It is widely known that compost is great for helping the garden thrive, but what many people may not be so aware of is that composting is also a great way to help the entire planet thrive. Even if your garden isn't in need of the nutritional benefits compost has to offer, setting up a compost bin allows your food scraps to escape the horrors of the landfill which, as it turns out, is also a great way to minimise your household's greenhouse gas emissions.
To explain why sending your food scraps to the landfill is such a bad thing, here is a quick science lesson. For food to decompose naturally, it needs a whole raft of bacteria and fungi to do all the hard yards and break it down. Like us, these microorganisms need oxygen to survive. When your food scraps are sent to landfill, they are piled deep underneath all of your other rubbish. The landfill is so densely packed that almost all the oxygen is squeezed out, and this prevents the good microorganisms from being able to come in and do their important work. This means that instead of your food scraps being broken down naturally, they are forced to rot anaerobically (without oxygen). This process releases the nasty greenhouse gas known as methane, which, when released into the atmosphere, initially possesses 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide. Food waste in landfill breaks down painfully slowly as well. A humble banana skin, for example, takes less than a month to break down in compost, but a whopping seven years to decompose in landfill.
The environmental impact of sending your unwanted food waste to landfill should not be underestimated. According to the Ministry for the Environment, it was estimated that in 2016, New Zealanders sent more than half a million tonnes of food waste to landfills nationwide. This means a considerable portion of our landfill is just rotting food scraps, meaning if this waste were cut out of the landfill system entirely, considerable energy and emissions savings could be made. In fact, if global food waste were its own country, it would be the third-largest producer of carbon emissions behind only China and the United States.
If you choose to keep your food scraps at home and throw them in a compost bin, however, you will be creating a thriving habitat for worms, bugs, bacteria and fungi, who will meticulously churn away at the food you don't need any more. A well-managed compost bin that is given a quick turn to let in more oxygen from time to time can process all this old food without releasing any methane at all. What you're left with instead is a nutrient-rich, totally natural form of fertiliser that can be added to your garden to help it thrive, and help your vegetables grow bigger and better than ever before. It's like recycling for food scraps. If you don't have a garden of your own, that's okay too. You can simply share your compost with your friends or neighbours. There are compost sharing groups online who would love to take it off your hands. If you feel particularly enthusiastic, perhaps you could write to the local council to encourage community composting services, or better yet, curbside compost pickup.
When we throw our food into the bin, it is easy not to think of the harmful greenhouse gases they are going to release from the landfill in the future. But now you know, so if your food scraps are going in the bin, it's well worth considering a change and taking this easy step to help the planet and help your garden.
