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| Compost Week 2021 |
Question: What Percentage of food goes to waste?
This question is appropriate because this is International Composting Week, May 2-8, 2021, with a theme: Grow, Eat…COMPOST…Repeat.
Some
foods don’t make it out of the fields. Potatoes, corn, and tomatoes that are
too small, or too ugly, may be left behind in the fields. In some cased, the
farmers announce that the edible, but ugly, food is available for gleaning – all you have to do
is drive over and gather it.
In other cases, the food makes the long travel to
restaurants and homes, but it is not consumed, so it goes to the municipal solid
waste (MSW) system, i.e., to the landfill. Non-government organizations like EndHunger.org (Society of St. Andrew with a
CharityNavigator score of 89.39) work to divert food from the waste stream to feed
the poor and hungry people. There are several wonderful non-profit organizations — many have “misfit” or “ugly” in their names — and a growing number of for-profits that redirect food that would be totally wasted.
About
31% of food goes to waste after it has been packed and shipped to the end market.
Overall, about 30%-40% worldwide goes to waste. In the US, food waste represents
the largest amount of MSW by weight! Most of the wasted food is not composted
or processed into energy (incinerated or natural gas recovery). Diverting food
waste from the landfill is critical; food in landfills is derived of oxygen so
it produces methane, a strong greenhouse gas.
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| Rich Compost. 1 Month in Tumbler, |
Food waste (excluding meat,
dairy, and such) can be composted. Yard waste is almost all compostable. Other
things can be composted as well, including paper, newspaper, etc. Compost becomes
a wonderful, rich soil (fertilizer) for your crops.
There are several ways to
compost. With a little open ground, you can create a composting mound. A compost
tumbler might be a good approach for a homeowner. Using earthworms to process waste into worm
castings is sometimes an option (Vermicomposting or the
raising of worms, Vermiculture).
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| Two-Compartment Compost Tumbler. |
Also see:
- EPA on composting: www.EPA.gov/recycle/composting-home
- ReFed. Economic Impact.
- TasteForLife on composting,
and more. - Vermicomposting. Using worms
to produce black castings fertilizer.
International Composting
Week is May 2-8, 2021, with a theme: Grow,
Eat…COMPOST…Repeat.
World Soil Day
is December 5. Mark your calendars every year to get the dirt on dirt. International Union of
Soil Sciences (IUSS) is an international source.
#Soil, #compost, #fertilizer, #food, #hunger, #sustainability, #Organic