Climate Action Day 30 – Compost

Food and Farming

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

In the first `100 days of 2024 we will explore 100 climate solutions that may “empower you to evaluate, engage, and act” to address on-going climate change as an individual on your terms.

Ever since Washington County, MN established food scrap collection sites, I have found it very satisfying to collect our food scraps into the little container that sits on the side of our sink, and routinely taking them to be composted. To be honest, I am not sure I would want to operate a backyard compost operation, but I am enthusiastically embracing my role in keeping food scraps out of the landfill. My county offers the rich humus that results for folks to come and claim in repayment.

You can and should collect your food scraps in compostable bags and bring them to the closest collection site to keep them out of the landfill, decomposing and releasing methane

Knowing the devastating impact of methane produced by organic material in landfills and released into the atmosphere, I urge you to consider participating in any composting program you have access to, even if you have to drive the food to the site. Methane release from a landfill is far more a threat to the climate than carbon dioxide from your tailpipe as you drop your scraps off. Maybe your community has a curbside pickup option (check it out!).

Methane traps about 100 times more heat compared to carbon dioxide per molecule. The good news is that it is broken down faster than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Still, averaged over 100 years, methane is 28X more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. That is why controlling methane emissions is a critical focus in the fight to mitigate the effects of global warming.

“… only 4.1 percent of our food waste in the United States was composted in 2018”

Heidi Roop

My county accepts damn near everything (including those used pizza boxes that you never quite know whether you should put in the recycling bin), including:

  • Fruit and vegetables,
  • Meat, fish, and bones 
  • Dairy products
  • Eggs and eggshells
  • Bread, pasta, beans, and rice
  • Nuts and shells
  • Coffee grounds, filters, and tea bags
  • Animal and pet food
  • Paper towels, napkins and tissues
  • Pizza delivery boxes
  • Paper egg cartons
  • Dirty paper bags
  • Certified compostable paper and plastic cups, plates, bowls, utensils, and containers (Look for the BPI logo to ensure it is compostable)

We have a nice stainless steel container on the counter, lined with EcoSafe® Compostable Bags that are BPI Certified that “ensures that items can be cycled back into the soil safely at a commercial composting facility”. I store the filled bags in a bucket in the garage and take them to the compost collection site every week. It is very satisfying. And in the spring, I can fill buckets with the “rich brown-black humus” that results and use it in the garden. It is all very satisfying and as Heidi says, “composting can be a low lift but high climate impact action!”

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 31: Shop for Your Meals Mindfully

Back to 100 Climate Solutions

Howard Creel

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Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com