More than one third of the world’s food is wasted or thrown away. This adds up to a staggering 1.3 billion tons of waste a year, most of which rots in landfills, emitting methane and contributing to climate change. And that’s not the only problem posed by food waste.
Many containers are also thrown away along with the food; as packaging is often essential when it comes to moving food and protecting it on the shelf. This results in large amounts of discarded plastic, which never goes away, and paper or cardboard, which if landfilled also produces methane as it degrades.
Throwing away so much food and packaging, and that waste producing planet-warming greenhouse gases, is especially problematic when many studies show it’s getting harder and harder to grow enough food to feed a growing population due to climate change and land degradation. Essential crops, including wheat and rice, are among those most at risk; and these climate-related challenges are is already affecting some of the world’s poorest countries, including those in sub-Saharan Africa and South America. But all areas, including the USAeventually you will face significant obstacles to growing enough food.
But one of the most promising and simple solutions lies in the problem itself: this wasted food, if composted, could slow climate change and improve soil quality and quantity. When food waste, along with packaging like paper, cardboard, and other compostable options, is broken down in composting facilities or even backyard compost piles, it does not produce methane and results in carbon-rich soil that is you can use everywhere from flower pots. plants to commercial agricultural fields.
Higher-quality soil also continues to absorb more carbon from the atmosphere, which helps fertilize plants and further contributes to combating climate change. Increase the amount of carbon in the world’s soil in just 0.4 percent a year would stop the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Returning a ton of organic matter per hectare of soil would increase the production of cereal crops each year in Africa, Asia and South America by millions of tons.
Given the same investment and publicity that recycling has received for the past four decades, composting could become mainstream, literally changing the world. In fact, it has even more game-changing potential than recycling, which struggles with financial viability and other issuesto have a positive impact on the environment, the global food supply, and human health, but has not received the same publicity or attention as recycling.
While it’s true that people can compost in their yards, community gardens, schools, or even on their kitchen counters, larger-scale efforts, including infrastructure and consumer incentives, would take it to the next level. This is how recycling was adopted by the masses. Imagine if consumers could simply drop off food scraps in a curbside bin for pickup, or drop them off at a local store, earning pennies a bucket, much like what has been offered to recycle bottles or newspapers.
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Furthermore, in the case of composting, the payment incentive system would be sustainable because the end product of the compost can be sold to farmers, making it an economically viable model, something that is often missing in recycling, especially for certain materials, such as many types of plastics.
Eventually, more widespread food composting would pave the way for solutions to additional waste challenges, including the disposal of packaging, clothing, and other items. There would also be a drip effect; If more consumers compost, businesses will be more inspired to make and use compostable packaging, clothing, and other products. While more compostable items are starting to emerge today, additional composting will further drive demand and innovation, and offer a game-changing solution for the planet, in terms of reducing methane, microplastics and improving agricultural conditions.
there have been important recent steps to keep food waste out of landfills—including garbage bans in California, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and dozens of other bills across the country to try to reduce food waste through measures like tax incentives for donated food . But food is still the biggest part of municipal landfills. Until that changes through more composting, we’re wasting a lot more than just food. We are wasting the opportunity to mitigate climate change and ensure an adequate future food supply for the world.
Daphna Nissenbaum is CEO and co-founder of TIPA.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.