Composting

According to Feeding America, each year, 119 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion in food thrown away each year. Nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted.

Obviously, these numbers are shockingly terrible for world hunger. But what does it mean for the planet?

‍The carbon footprint of food waste is greater than that of the airline industry and accounts for 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

43% of all food waste in America is coming from the home.

The first step to reducing this waste is being conscientious of what you buy. However, when worse comes to worst, and there is no way to rescue the item, composting can limit the environmental harm of it.

When food is left for the landfill, it produces methane. For every million metric tons of organic waste that decompose, 469 metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gases in the form of methane are released. However, when composted, microbes transform the organic matter into soil — keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere.

‍Project Drawdown reports that increasing composting could generate carbon savings equivalent to taking roughly 15 million passenger vehicles off the road for 30 years.

Companies like Mill, Lomi, AtlasOrganics, Green Mountain Technologies, and many more are making composting a more accessible solution!