Most of us now understand the benefits of composting yard waste, but what about food waste? It was projected that in 2015, nearly 95% of food waste was disposed of in landfills, which is not ideal. Why is food waste such an issue? It is a waste when food leftovers may be composted into nutrient-rich soil, but composting has additional advantages over landfills that are less well recognized. Continue reading to find out why you need to compost your food scraps.
Food Waste Facts
Most Americans do not compost their food leftovers by a wide margin. Instead, we throw them in the trash, which increases the quantity of waste sent to landfills. Landfills are not limited, by the way. They do become crowded, and when that occurs, they shut down. The area on the globe for further landfills and landfills are infinite resources.
Food waste in landfills increases the quantity of methane gas the pile produces, which is another major problem. When food is thrown into a landfill, it rotates behind mountains of other trash without access to air, creating methane. Why is methane such a problem?
Climate Change and Food Waste
Methane has a 28–34 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide. It is to blame for 25% of the current global warming, the gradual increase in the earth’s temperature brought on by human activity.
Over 72% of the waste that goes into landfills may be composted. Composting food waste minimizes water pollution and delays the formation of methane, but it also frees up landfill space and improves the ecosystem as a whole.
Water filters through garbage, such as food waste, to create leachate, a liquid. It is very harmful since it releases toxins and other components into the soil, groundwater, and rivers. Ammonia and leachate react with food waste at a landfill to create a pungent odour.
Compost vs. Landfill Benefits
There are other advantages to composting food scraps instead of throwing them in the trash, in addition to those that have previously been discussed. Bulking agents and food waste both hasten decomposition and decrease methane and leachate generation. In agricultural areas, composting reduces smells and preserves groundwater.
Heavy metals are bound by composting food waste, preventing leakage into water supplies or uptake by living things like plants or people.
Composting provides a lot of benefits for the agriculture sector as well. Compost improves soil quality by adding organic matter and stabilizing pH levels. It also slows the spread of some plant diseases and weeds, boosts crop yield and general vigor, improves soil water retention, lowers irrigation requirements, and replenishes soil that has been depleted of microorganisms & worm populations as a result of chemical pesticides.
Compost is not cheap to buy, thus giving the product presents a chance for additional money. By manufacturing high-quality compost, a producer may increase their revenue, and using organic compost increases the price of the organic product that results.
Whether you compost at home or donate to a municipal one, you can rest easy knowing that you are helping to fight global warming sustainably on a variety of levels.