Food waste, composting, and a cool idea for earth-conscious earthlings.
In developed countries about 220 lbs of food, per person, per year is tossed. This is tragic, because the majority of this waste rots in landfills, where it is digested by microorganisms that release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. When I say powerful, I mean 21 times more powerful than carbon-dioxide in terms of warming the atmosphere.
So composting seems like a unique solution to this problem, but wouldn’t that just release methane in your backyard instead of a landfill?
Actually, no.
When food waste is in a landfill, it’s crammed tight in an environment without oxygen, so bacteria digest this waste anaerobically and produce methane as a result. If these bacteria can break down the food in an aerobic environment, like a small loose compost pile aerated by worms in your yard, then they’ll just produce carbon dioxide as waste, and you’ve helped save the planet. Also, you might accidentally grow some some delicious plant whose seeds you tossed in said compost heap. It happens, I swear.
And for those who can’t compost, here is another idea:
When I was a kid, whenever I went to a restaurant with my aunt, she would bring a clean container, immediately halve her restaurant meal in two and pack up one half to bring home. As a diabetes nurse, this seemed like a cool move to prevent overeating, but by bringing her own container she also made sure to remove all of the food on her plate for consumption while still not needing to use the disposable restaurant packaging to bring home leftovers. It’s a small step, sure, but it’s easy too, which earns it a place in my book as a COOL IDEA WORTH SHARING.
You get ten points if you try it when you eat out this month.
