Tons of food waste is buried in landfills across the US each year. This food waste, when mixed with other waste breaks down and creates methane. According to the US EPA, it is estimated that about 50 percent of global methane emissions are related to human activites like waste management (landfills).
Everyone can help reduce the amount of waste they send to the landfill by simply composting their kitchen scraps. Composting food waste offers several advantages:
- It can reduce household garbage costs;
- It creates less odor and attracts fewer pests than when putting food wastes in garbage containers;
- It saves the water and electricity that kitchen garbage disposals use;
- It produces free, high-quality soil amendment; and
- It requires little space.
You can collect food scraps right in your own kitchen, with a compost pail, then empty the full pail into a larger (homemade) compost bin, tumbler or worm condo! If you don’t like the idea of sharing your kitchen with worms or don’t have a yard or basement to keep your compost bin you can have your compost picked up. Check with your town or city’s recyling department to see if your municipality has a compost program, and if not, you can be part of local compost initiatives like Albany’s Radix Center compost pick-up service.
There are certain foods you cannot compost and specific methods to prevent odors, pests and to create the most nutrient-rich soil. To find out more about composting attend the Co-op’s Vermicomposting class with Kathy on Monday, December 12 at 12-2pm. There will be a post with more details on composting later this week for those who cannot attend, but the class will surely be interesting and informative!
Source: Climatelab.org
