Recycling food waste through composting and animal feeding reportedly provides substantial advantages in addressing climate change, according to a research study.
A groundbreaking study led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine and other institutions has shed light on the significant environmental benefits of diverting food waste from landfills to methods such as composting, anaerobic digestion, and animal feed (refeed).
The study, published in the journal Nature Food, found that diverting all food waste away from landfills in the United States would avoid around 10% of the planet-warming carbon emissions that come from the country's agriculture sector. This is a substantial reduction, equivalent to avoiding approximately 40 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year.
One of the key advantages of these recycling methods is their impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Landfilling food waste leads to anaerobic decomposition, producing methane, a potent greenhouse gas with over 80 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide over 20 years. By contrast, the studied methods substantially lower these emissions. Composting emits a small amount of climate pollution, while anaerobic digestion is carbon-negative, and turning food waste into animal feed is roughly carbon-neutral.
Moreover, these methods offer multiple practical benefits. They are described as practical, viable, low-cost, and field-proven, delivering not only greenhouse gas mitigation but also conserving natural resources and promoting sustainable agriculture. For example, feeding suitable food waste to animals reduces the need for conventional animal feed, such as maize and soybeans, thereby sparing land, water, fertilizers, and fuel typically used in crop production.
The study's findings underscore that recycling food waste instead of landfill disposal offers a powerful climate change mitigation strategy with benefits spanning emissions reduction, natural resource savings, and enhancing food security. Sintana Vergara, an environmental engineer who studies climate change and waste management at Swarthmore College, sees the study's results as a call to action for tackling climate change.
Some cities, like New York City and Philadelphia, offer municipal compost pickup, while private companies like Bennett Compost and Circle Compost provide curbside pickup for a fee. Making your own compost at home in a backyard or community garden is also an option.
Tibisay Pérez, a research scientist, believes the study could be valuable for policymakers looking to create larger-scale waste diversion policies. Zhengxia Dou, the study's leader, encourages consumers to avoid food waste when planning meals and shopping for food.
The study's approach is considered significant, even though it represents a small fraction of the total carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. However, as Sintana Vergara points out, every little bit counts in the fight against climate change. Whendee Silver, an ecologist who studies climate change and compost at the University of California, Berkeley, said the study's approach is really solid and pretty creative.
Some solutions outlined in the study are already being implemented in places like Colombia, where food scraps are often fed to backyard animals and composting is common. The study imagines a world in which no food waste is sent to landfills. Instead, one-third would be composted, one-third processed through anaerobic digestion, and the last third fed to animals.
In conclusion, the study offers an opportunity to rethink agricultural systems in countries like the U.S., with the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve resources, and promote sustainable agriculture. The researchers emphasize the importance of awareness and reducing food waste generation at the individual level as part of the solution.
By embracing the recycling of food waste and avoiding landfill disposal, we can make substantial strides in mitigating climate change. To achieve this, one can support practices such as composting, anaerobic digestion, and animal feed reuse in our daily lives, each of which offers environmental, financial, and agricultural benefits. Moreover, these methods have already demonstrated success in regions like Colombia, where they contribute to sustainable agriculture, natural resource conservation, and emissions reduction.
