10 Reasons I Love to Compost
If you’re reading this, you probably know I’m passionate about compost. Here’s why;
1. Less Garbage —
Garbage is gross. Why? Because it smells like GARBAGE. Why? Because 30% of it is food scraps and other organic material, like yard trimmings and dead flowers, etc. All of which could and should be composted instead. Another 29% of our waste consists of paper, wood, and textiles; a decent amount of which can also be composted. For instance, food soiled paper towels can easily be composted. Organic textiles can be composted. Wood that’s not treated with chemicals can also be composted. On the low end, 30% of what ends up in landfills can be composted, but realistically that number is likely closer to 50%.
Due to the fact the U.S. has a serious landfill capacity crisis, diverting as much waste as possible is really important.
2. Reduce Methane Emissions —
A landfill is a terrible place for anything to attempt to break down, especially organic material. The lack of sunlight, moisture, and oxygen means decomposition will take a ridiculously long time (a head of lettuce takes 25 years to decompose in a landfill!) AND will emit a nasty GHG in the atmosphere: Methane. Methane traps 84x more heat in our atmosphere than CO2 over a 20 year period. In fact, 25% of today’s global warming comes from methane. And guess what the 3rd largest source of methane emissions is? LANDFILLS.
In May 2021, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that current methane levels are the highest they have EVER been. In 2020, we had the largest annual increase in atmospheric methane since recording began in 1983.
THERE’S GOOD NEWS, THOUGH! Methane only sticks around in our atmosphere for about 10 years, whereas CO2 sticks around for hundreds of years. This means that a rapid, full-scale effort to reduce methane will slow the worldwide rate of warming as much as 30%! We can’t miss this opportunity because we will never get it again. The time to act is now, and we know what we need to do, and it’s not hard or even that expensive (not that cost should be a factor when it comes to saving the planet).
3. Support Clean, Green Jobs —
Right now, I live between Hoboken, NJ and the Catskills in New York State. The City of Hoboken has contracted with Community Compost Company to offer 12 free compost drop off sites where residents can bring their food scraps which I take advantage of when I’m in Hoboken. Community Compost Company is a woman owned and operated company that not only helps reduce food waste, reduce GHG emissions, create valuable compost to help restore soil in NY & NJ so we can be more food resilient, BUT they also create clean, green, fair paying jobs for people in the community!
On a per-ton basis, making compost alone, employs 2x more workers than landfills and 4x more workers than incinerators. The use of compost in green infrastructure (rain gardens, green roofs, vegetated retaining walls, and highway embankments to control soil erosion and stormwater) creates even more jobs.
4. Save Money —
Hoboken’s website explains that the city’s garbage is transported to a landfill all the way in West Virginia for a cost of $106 per ton of waste. In comparison, the city’s compost is brought to Hudson Valley, New York (not far for those unfamiliar with the area) for a mere $20 per ton. When Hoboken residents drop their food scraps off instead of including them in their trash they are diverting waste, reducing GHG (carbon and methane), and saving money for Hoboken taxpayers by cutting down on landfill fees and the volume and frequency of garbage collection. The same cost savings exist in every single municipality that offers a composting program. If your municipality isn’t offering a compost program to its residents, tell them to.
5. Witness Magic —
When I’m in the Catskills, I compost my own food scraps and organics. For those unfamiliar, the Catskills is a rural area of New York State just a couple hours outside NYC. Residential compost programs aren’t as popular in the Catskills as they are in suburban areas because most homeowners compost in their yard on their own (or don’t compost at all... yet!). I started the compost process up here in January 2021. Watching my scraps transform into beautiful, earthy compost in such a short time has been truly magical. And PS - It saves about $20/month on private garbage pick-up.
6. Feeds the Soil —
Compost contains a full spectrum of essential nutrients and minerals that soils need to thrive. When we apply compost to our landscape, it supplies a variety of macro and micro nutrients that are released slowly over time resulting in both immediate and long-term benefits. These nutrients negate the need for fertilizer and make nutrients more easily accessible for the living organisms both above and below ground! Our soil isn’t in great shape right now, so giving it the TLC it needs is of the utmost importance. I LOVE knowing that the compost I’m creating will feed the land I live on with the vital nutrients it needs!
7. Improve Soil Sponge —
Our soil is only as healthy as our Soil Sponge, which at the moment isn’t very... spongey. When soil loses its sponge-like capabilities, the soil isn’t strong enough to withstand wind (causing erosion) and isn’t able to retain water when it rains (causing runoff and floods). As Gabe Brown puts it: “It’s not about how much rain falls, it’s how much water is absorbed and retained in the soil”. Since compost holds 5x its weight in water it’s perfect for helping us improve soil water retention capabilities! According to recent reports, the total annual cost of erosion from agriculture in the United States alone is over $44 billion per year. So yeah... let’s work on that Soil Sponge!
8. Soil Carbon Sequestration —
Composting improves the health and structure of soil, enabling it to sequester carbon more easily via photosynthesis! Exciting research shows that widespread compost use makes a HUGE dent in our carbon emissions: For example, applying less than a half-inch of compost to 5% of California’s rangelands would sequester 28 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere — equivalent to taking 6 million cars off the road each year! A 2018 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identified Soil Carbon Sequestration as having the greatest potential for reducing emissions at the lowest cost. Even if we stopped all the activities that emit carbon tomorrow, we’d still need to remove the carbon that’s already in the atmosphere, otherwise the planet will just keep heating. If you’re thinking to yourself “wait so my food scraps can save the planet... no way”, I have something to tell you: YES FUCKING WAY.
9. Food Waste —
When we begin the process of separating our food from the rest of our garbage, we begin to realize just how much food we throw away. Don’t think you waste much food or have a lot of food scraps? Personally, I’m a vacuum cleaner with food. I don’t let much go to waste at all. That being said, I STILL have lots of scraps after preparing fruits and veggies! And I have plenty of friends who buy too much produce, only for it to go bad, then throw it in the garbage (which then smells like absolute shit). When we begin to compost, we are getting clear, immediate feedback on how much food we’re wasting. This visual helps us understand how much food we should really buy and saves us money!
Composting also opens our eyes to new ways we can use food scraps before tossing them in the compost! For instance, we can collect our vegetable scraps in a container in our freezer until we have enough to make a delicious broth! Another trick I learned from my favorite plant-based culinary genius, @SproutedinLove, is to use pineapple rinds to make an insanely delicious tea which happens to give you more anti-inflammatory benefits than the inside of the fruit! Banana peels? Here are 23 uses for them!
10. Compost is Circular —
Compost takes the concept that “one man’s trash is another’s treasure” to an entirely new level. I love all the economic and environmental benefits of composting, but in all honesty, what might excite me most are the positive impacts it has on our society. Composting is just one of the ways we can become more resilient as individuals and communities.
Last week, I had the honor to participate in Reuters Transform USA 2021, a two day event for business leaders to come together and share how they're executing strategy that builds resilience and delivers a sustainable transition to a more regenerative business model. One of my favorite quotes came from Tony Milkin, the Chief Sustainability and Procurement Officer at AB InBev who said:
“Circularity and sustainability costs less.
Wait, let me say that again: circularity and sustainability costs less!”
Humans are the least efficient organism on Earth. We are the only ones who take or make something, will only use part of it, then irresponsibly “dump the rest”. We don’t have to live that way. We can be better! We can be smarter!
Recently I had a conversation with Xavier DeRoos, founder of Renüable, a company that offers composting services in South Florida. Xavier shared something about composting that I never heard before and absolutely love:
“Composting is the gateway drug to living more sustainably.
It changes the way you think about everything.”