Compost & Soil Health
Did you know that food waste in landfills releases methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO2? In fact, it's the third largest source of methane emissions in the US.
When we treat our food discards as a resource rather than waste, we unlock a world of potential. Composting allows us to turn our food scraps into beautiful compost, which we can use to nurture a healthy ecosystem and planet. Compost also promotes healthy soil, which leads to carbon sequestration, replenished water cycles, healthier and more abundant produce, farmer benefit, and ecosystem repair.
Read more below to learn about what your food scraps can do!
Benefits of Local Composting
Landfill Diversion
By diverting organic waste from landfills, we prevent toxic greenhouse gas emissions and chemical leaching in our soil and waterways, all while creating a local solution.
Reduced Hauling
Local composting minimizes the carbon footprint and financial costs of waste hauling by reducing reliance on fossil-fuel heavy trucks traveling long distances to landfills.
Green Job Creation
Composting locally supports equitable, inclusive green jobs in your community. Composting creates approximately 3 times as many jobs as landfilling per 10,000 tons of material handled.1
Closing the loop
Most importantly, composting and building soil health closes the loop by nurturing our entire food system and creating resilience.
Compost also improves soil health, leading to
Carbon Drawdown
When those microorganisms work in tandem with plant life, they actively draw down atmospheric carbon, which is acting as a greenhouse gas, and store it in the soil, so it can function as the life-builder it’s meant to be.
Improved water Cycles
Healthy soils work like a sponge, absorbing and retaining water underground. This recharges our groundwater, increasing drought resistance and replenishing our water cycles. At the same time, that carbon in the soil is acting like the filter in a water pitcher - it’s leaching out heavy metals and other toxins, and leaving cleaner water behind.
Healthy, Abundant Food
We are what we eat, but we’re also what our food eats. The microorganisms in healthy soils deliver nutrients to plants resulting in more nutritious food, with greater resistance to pests and disease. The best part is that in addition to growing healthier food, healthy soil allows us to grow more of it in the same footprint!
Lower Farming Costs
All of this benefits the bottom line for farmers and consumers. Healthy soil promotes pest and disease resistance, meaning we can break our dependence on toxic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Farmers can grow higher yields of higher quality produce, while entirely taking costly and toxic inputs out of the picture.
Ecosystem Repair
Here’s the really exciting part. Healthy soils promote a continuous increase in biodiversity, leading to stronger ecosystems. When we take care of our ecosystem, it can take care of us, by providing key services like food, water, climate regulation, nutrient cycles, and oxygen production.
1. C. Libertelli, B. Platt, M. Matthews, A Growing Movement: 2022 Community Composter Census, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 2023 (ilsr.org/composting-2022-census/)