Keep food waste out of landfills. Compost it!
By Dean Hoegger, Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin
When it comes to recycling, much of what we can recycle is often beyond our control. Manufacturers produce packaging that has no recycling markets or requires great expense to do so. However, when it comes to the food waste created in our kitchens, it need not leave our property to be recycled, even in if we are renters. We can choose to be in complete control with just a little planning and the right equipment.
We can use our home food waste, which is generally defined as plate waste, inedible fruit and vegetable parts, and spoiled foods to create compost. Mature compost is a stable material with content called humus that is dark brown or black and has a soil-like, earthy smell. When producing compost, the emphasis is on plant wastes. However, eggshells, coffee grounds and filters, and paper towels are common kitchen wastes that can be composted.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that more food reached U.S. landfills and combustion facilities than any other single material in 2018. You can choose not to be part of that statistic. Compost your food waste! “When food goes to the landfill, it’s similar to tying food in a plastic bag. The nutrients in the food never return to the soil. The wasted food rots and produces methane gas,” according to the EPA.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that traps heat 28 to 36 times more effectively than carbon dioxide over a 100 year period and is largely responsible for about 23% of climate change in the 20th century. While there are many sources of methane being released to the atmosphere, some natural, some from human activities, your food waste should not be a contributor. Proper home composting can alleviate your food waste as a source of methane.
While there are federal and state rules requiring the capture of methane from landfills, the EPA estimates that municipal solid waste landfills are the third largest source of human related methane emissions in the U.S. In 2018, that amounted to about 15%, and was approximately equal to the greenhouse gases created by 20.6 million passenger cars driven for one year. Keeping food waste out of landfills can significantly reduce methane emissions.
Some people might say, “this doesn’t apply to me because I have a garbage disposal.” Maggie Sauerhage of the EPA told AP News “…that when food is added to the wastewater system, it must be further treated.” She recommends composting. Food waste is rich in nitrogen which must be removed to keep it from polluting the waters where it is discharged. It is also water wasteful as a way of moving food waste from the kitchen to the sewage treatment plant.
The use of garbage disposals is usually not recommended for people with septic systems or holding tanks. The tanks can fill more quickly when food waste is needlessly sent down the drain. In our home, that would amount to 10-15 pounds of waste each week, and much higher in the summer, with garden processing. Instead, our home composting gives us about five to six five gallon pails of finished compost for our garden and flower beds each year.
Solids left over after wastewater treatment are commonly sent to landfills, incinerated, or even land spread. With land spreading, the food waste sent down the drain is then mixed with other solids and contaminated with toxic materials sent down residential and commercial drains such as heavy metals, and as we have seen in NE Wisconsin, even PFAS. Home composting can produce a safe garden and lawn supplement with little effort.
As previously discussed, sending food waste down the drain is a wasteful use of water. Composting at home can also conserve other energy sources. Not including food waste in one’s home sewage or sending it to a sewage treatment plant can reduce fuel expended for hauling it to the plant and the solids away from the plant. Where municipal food waste pick-up and composting is available, fuel is used for hauling and then processing the large scale compost piles.
The simplest solution is a backyard compost bin. is a simple to use bin that I have used for over eight years. It sits next to my garden, is a short distance from the kitchen, and I keep the path shoveled through the winter. I have never had a rodent get into the bin nor have such reports been received by Brown County Resource Recovery who made the same bins available to the public ten years back.
The bin has a large diameter cover making it easy to turn the pile with a pitch fork every few weeks to keep it oxygenated, preventing production of methane gas. No doubt you will find it fascinating to see the progress of decomposition, discovering which foods break down the fastest. The slowest items I have discovered are cotton and wool clothing. I now use those as mulch for young tree plantings. I cover them with some woodchips, and they keep weeds away for several years.
The EPA recommends including these in your compost bin: fruits and vegetables, eggshells, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, nut shells, shredded newspaper, cardboard, paper, yard trimmings, grass clippings, houseplants, hay and straw, leaves, sawdust, wood chips, cotton and wool clothing, hair and fur, and fireplace ashes. Avoid meat products and fats.
If you live where an outdoor compost pile is not possible, consider using a vermicomposter which uses red wiggler worms to rapidly break down the food waste. The EPA provides directions and advice for building your own at How to Create and Maintain an Indoor Worm Composting Bin | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle | US EPA. They can also be purchased at hardware stores or online. A teacher colleague of mine helped her students compost most of our schools food waste in her classroom using vermiculture. Other than the occasional appearance of fruit flies, she reported no problems.
Another choice for apartment dwellers is to team up with a friend who can have a backyard composter. Bring your food waste to that location and assist with turning the pile occasionally. Possibly your landlord will allow you to do a pilot program for composting food waste, grass clippings, and leaves. Or, do vermicomposting with a friend. Two households would likely produce less food waste than our K-5 grade school did. Another option would be to find a farmer, such as our composting workshop presenter, FarmHer Donna, who picks up about 300 pounds of food waste each week from area restaurants to improve the soil on her vegetable farm.
Clearly, home composting food waste with other yard waste is the most environment friendly recycling method. You only need to make the choice to do so.
Useful Resources:
Small Scale or Backyard Composting - Cornell Waste Management Institute
