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Landfills are a big climate culprit. Garbage dumps generate a third of all methane emissions in the U.S., in part because the most common item in them is food. Composting food scraps rather than tossing them in landfills results in up to 84 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, researchers say.
Landfills spew millions of tons of methane. A new study says composting could slash their emissions by as much as 84 percent.
Today, the problem is no longer looming. Carbon dioxide levels are now 419 ppm – 42% higher than in Arrhenius’s day – and closing in on the 430 ppm level the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sees as a critical threshold – above this level, the globe will warm by more than 1.5°C, widely viewed as the difference between being problematic and being a massive catastrophe.
Ecosystem scientist Dr. Whendee Silver and compost expert Forest Abbott-Lum walk us through the benefits and challenges associated with the breakdown of food waste.