Food Waste, Climate Change, and Composting

By Olivia Whatley

Food waste in landfills emits over 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and over 55 million metric tons of methane in the US every year. It makes up about 22-24% of all waste in landfills. The biggest contributors to food waste are grocery stores with 30% of food going to waste. In addition to wasting almost one-third of our food, transporting that waste also contributes significantly to emissions. Most of the food thrown into landfills is edible with nothing wrong with it. Retail stores throw out food due to confusion between “sell by” and “best by” dates, damaged packaging, and if it is “unpopular”. Additionally, food manufacturers make more food than grocery stores can sell. It seems obvious that this food should be distributed to the 47.4 million food-insecure people in the US. However, it costs grocery stores and manufacturers far less to throw away excess food than to pay for it to be transported to those who need it. Composting is one solution for creating a cyclical and more sustainable waste stream and can also help mitigate the impacts of climate change.?

Why Composting??

If excess food cannot be given to food-insecure people, then the next best thing is to compost it. Composting is the practice of recycling food waste into fertilizer. To make compost, you take food scraps and “brown waste”—such as paper, leaves, or lawn trimmings—and put them in a designated bin or a hole in the ground. The pile should be kept moist and occasionally mixed. After 3-6 months, you have usable compost that can be used as fertilizer for gardens or landscaping. Traditional composting is a good option for people with enough outdoor space to keep a compost pile, or have a garden in which they can use the fertilizer for. However, many people do not have space for a compost pile. Many cities have compost programs where food scraps are picked up by the city. For example, in New York City, companies will pick up your food scraps, and you can drop off your food waste for free at one of their drop-off locations.?

Some municipalities even have large-scale compost plants instead of traditional waste facilities such as Sevier Solid Waste Inc. in Sevier County, TN. This compost plant is designed to compost all of the county’s waste. Regular unsorted trash goes into the compost machine which produces compost mixed with solid waste such as plastic, metals, and glass. It goes through a sorting process to remove the solid waste and that waste is sent to be sorted again to pick out what can be recycled. The rest is then landfilled. The county uses this compost for landscaping and is free for anyone to use for their own gardens. Sevier Solid Waste diverts 70% of their county’s waste from being landfilled and prevents over 12 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions from being emitted annually. This kind of large-scale composting could be replicated in many cities and could have a large impact on climate change.?

Climate Change

Climate change is here. We are past the point of preventing global warming from reaching the point of no return. Global Average temperatures have increased past the 1.5°C goal established by the Paris Agreement. This goal was created to prevent the irreversible impacts of climate change such as the loss of biodiversity, loss of icecaps, and an increasingly warming climate. This warming is anthropogenic and caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Short periods of global temperatures spiking above that 1.5°C increase is not an issue, however, for the first time that increase has been sustained for over a year. Recent climate news has shown that the tipping points have already started. Due to warming and other anthropogenic influences, we have lost 73% of all species on earth. For example, wild mammals only comprise about 4% of all mammal biomass on Earth. The other 96% are humans and domesticated animals, such as livestock and pets. Another recent article by climate scientists says that anthropogenic climate change has thrown off the world’s water cycle. Over the next 25 years, this could put over half the world’s food production at risk of failure. We have recently seen an increase in the frequency and severity of hurricanes and other tropical storms with Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Since the tipping points have started and we are past prevention, we can only take actions to adapt and not accelerate global warming even further.?

While coal and oil are the most significant contributors to climate change, agriculture comes in as the second largest contributor behind energy. If we want to adapt to a changing climate and prevent further warming, we must change how food is produced and disposed of. The production of agriculture and transportation of food releases significant greenhouse gasses, such as methane and nitrous oxide. As well as this, the agricultural sector is a significant contributor to global pollution. This is due to chemical pesticides and fertilizers that create runoff from farms, enter streams and rivers, and damage aquatic ecosystems.?

If food production causes so much damage to the environment, then we cannot afford food to cause double the emissions when it is wasted, left to decompose, and release greenhouse gasses (GHGs) in a landfill. Climate change caused by emissions from poor agricultural practices causes droughts and floods that impact the food system. Not only is producing and wasting 30% of our food bad for the environment, but it is bad for humans too. That is why pressure must be put on food producers to create less waste by donating or composting. Composting is a way to prevent GHG emissions and create a waste cycle rather than a waste stream that dead ends. The nutrients that compost enriches soil with help soil to sequester and store carbon. This means that composting can double the impact on emissions and climate change by preventing emissions and also helping vegetation and soil store more carbon.?

Next Steps?

Wasting food is bad for people and the planet. The US has a hunger issue but is still overproducing and wasting food. The agricultural sector is the second largest contributor to climate change. With all this in mind, we cannot afford to waste food as we do now. Composting is a solution to many of our problems. It’s a way to prevent GHG emissions and put nutrients back into our soil so that soil can store more carbon thus helping vegetation and taking carbon out of the atmosphere. Composting is also a way for everyone to make a small impact on climate change and feel empowered by making a difference. Here are some steps for using compost as a tool to fight hunger and climate change:?

1. On a large scale, food producers must stop creating excess food that will not sell. Grocery stores should stop throwing out 30% of their edible products. With this current food system, food is being produced to be thrown away. Instead, grocery stores can partner with local food banks and services like Misfit Market to recirculate unwanted products.?
2. On a small scale, consumers can learn the difference between the “sell by” date and the “best by” date on their products in order to avoid throwing out food that is not expired. In addition to this, start a compost bin or take advantage of a city compost program. By doing this, composting becomes more accessible to everyone when cities and companies see that there is a demand for it.?

References

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