On average, each person throws away 200 kg of food waste annually. Around 1 kg of food waste produces 0.5 kg of organic compost that can be used in agriculture as a natural fertilizer.
Most food waste ends up in landfills or incinerators, emitting greenhouse gases (GHG), and contributing to climate change. While also poisoning the land, air, and waterways. In some research, the proximity of landfills was related to a heightened risk of cancer.
Most municipal solid waste is sent to landfills or incinerators. 24 % of this waste can be composted.
The gas given off by landfills consists of 50% methane (CH4), 50% carbon dioxide (CO2) gas, and volatile organic compounds. Landfills are the single largest methane source in the U.S. Methane is 28 times more potent than CO2. Landfills also produce leachate, contaminating soil and aquifers.
The best way to reduce our waste, pollution, and contamination from landfills and incinerators is to start composting.
The following items can easily be composted:
Browns, high in Carbon: cardboard, paper, ashes, wood, corn stalks, dry leaves, pine needles, sawdust, draw, wood chips, wool and cotton rugs, hair, fur, hay, and straw. (Browns adds aeration to the compost pile.)
Greens, high in Nitrogen: fruit, vegetable peels and scraps, healthy plants and plant parts, some food waste, tea bags, coffee grounds, nut and eggshells, yard trimmings, and grass clippings.
Why compost and the benefits of composting.
-Improves the soil quality, strengthening the sink and buffer capacity.
-Compost enhances water retention in soils, reduces erosion and evaporation, and reduces the amount of watering.
-Compost reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and provides free organic nutrients, nitrogen, carbon, and micronutrients while increasing yields.
-Compost is also suitable for potting soil and as a soil amendment.
-Decontaminating polluted soils binds with toxins like lead and cadmium so plants will not absorb them.
-Improves degraded lands and soils.
-Suppresses some plant diseases, such as clubroot in cabbage.
-Most fruits and vegetables are grown in nutrient-depleted soils; these soils contain fewer minerals and vitamins.
-Growing vegetables in rich Compost can improve the products' nutritional value, improve people's overall health, and address food security.
Healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy people
Compost is locally available; there is no need for manufacturing and transporting.
"The compost becomes food, and the food becomes compost."
"Composting proceeds best at a moisture content of 40-60% by weight. At lower moisture levels, microbial activity is limited. At higher levels, the process is likely to become anaerobic and foul-smelling". (Cornell)
From Waste to Compost.
Conclusion
By 2050 there will be 9.5 billion people living on this planet, and most of them will be in big cities. Resilient cities must address, among many other things, waste management/reduction and food scarcity. Cities around the world must adapt to a circular economy or closed-loop economy.
Composting and after that using it as fertilizer reduces society's environmental footprint. Turning municipal solid waste into a resource for plants reduces GHG emissions, improves soil quality and water absorption, therefore improving the nutritious value of the plants, combating food scarcity.
Let's start composting,
Lilla
My compost bin in Washington,D.C
References
“Circularity Is Key in Developing Bioeconomy.” Interreg Europe, www.interregeurope.eu/bioregio/news/news-article/2986/biowaste-challenge-in-europe/.
Compost Connection, compostconnection.com/.
Estabrook, Barry. Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, 2012.
Friis, Robert H. Essentials of Environmental Health. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2019.
Plastrik, Peter, and John Cleveland. Life after Carbon: the next Global Transformation of Cities. Island Press, 2018.
Razza, Francesco, et al. “The Role of Compost in Bio-Waste Management and Circular Economy.” Designing Sustainable Technologies, Products and Policies, 2018, pp. 133–143., doi:10.1007/978-3-319-66981-6_16.
Robertson, Margaret. Sustainability Principles and Practice. Routledge, 2017.