How food waste and composting can actually save your Earth.

By Amy and Brad Lupton

You might have looked at the above title and thought…huh? How could my moldy orange hurt Mother Earth?

A few weeks ago, our local fruit and veggie co op gave us a ton of oranges. I mean a whole butt load. We made smoothies and juice, ate oranges for dessert, dried them for potpourri. I was getting super creative but couldn’t use all the oranges. Well, come back to me a week later and I had forgotten some in the back of the fridge. You know the drill, that food that gets shoved to the back of the drawer or shelf to the forgotten land, only to be met with squish, mold, or stink later.

Well, because of my passionate save-the-planet children lately, I have learned in-depth about food waste, and thought you would be shocked at this quote like I was.

According to climatecentral.org :

“Amazingly, up to 40 percent of all food produced in the U.S. intended for consumption is not eaten, which equates to about 30 pounds of food per person each month. Food that gets thrown out ends up in landfills, where it gradually rots and releases methane, a strong greenhouse gas. Globally, if food waste could be represented as its own country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China and the U.S.

The decay of food waste in landfills is not the only source of greenhouse gases. The resources needed to produce the food also have a carbon footprint. Globally, the effect of processing the food that is wasted is equal to about 3.3 billion tons of CO2."

So what happened those squishy oranges you might be wondering? They went to the compost pile. Standard around here is to not throw any food scraps away that could be used otherwise, whether the pets eat it, chickens eat it, our worm farm eats it, or it gets composted. That glorious day the oranges were put to a purpose, to give our future plants some nutrition.

Here at Liferoot, we love to compost.

We have been doing it for years, loving the amendment and nutrition it gives our plants through the soil.

You might be thinking, ok I have food scraps and don’t they all break down because I am throwing it away in my trash bag? What’s the difference?

Well, oxygen is the difference.

Instead of an oxygen-rich environment that a compost pile offers (and not to mention all the microbes that thrive on that compost), the dark anaerobic environment of a trash bag causes decomposition to happen very slowly, and the food releases far too much methane throughout the process. Yep, deprived of oxygen, the food barely breaks down, it actually mummifies.

So what’s the answer? First, try your hardest to not waste food.

That means:

Buying less (or in the case of our million oranges…maybe give a bunch away to neighbors).
Make a food menu and only buy the food you need for the days. You will save money and reduce food waste.
Save and eat leftovers! Cook that meal you love, pack it up and eat the next day.
Don’t over serve food. Make your portion size smaller, and if anyone needs more, they can get more to accommodate their appetite.
Practice FIFO, which means first in, first out. What’s oldest needs to be on display, or in the front of fridge, so you can eat it first.
Store things properly. Fruits and veggies do best when they are stored properly: in the right containers, right areas of fridge, etc.
Well, in the case of the oranges… we didn’t get to them. What then? Compost!

You might already be a seasoned composter, or have no idea how in the world you would start composting. Either way its all good! We usually visit the composter after each meal that is prepared at home. It is unbelievable what is leftover from cutting veggie scraps and waste.

How do you start a compost area? Well, we love this guide from eartheasy, and think you will too. https://learn.eartheasy.com/guides/composting/

Here is another helpful guide on a DIY compost bin: https://happydiyhome.com/diy-compost-bin/

To be honest, there are many ways to compost. We like www.subpod.com as a DIY unit, or just the ole build a box and throw scraps into it. We have both.

Why should you have a compost area?

Compost enriches soil, helping retain moisture and suppress plant diseases and pests. It feeds the soil with the right amount of fertilizing agents from natural sources. It reduces the need for chemical fertilizers, and encourages the production of beneficial bacteria and fungi that break down organic matter to create humus, a rich nutrient-filled material. We love it and it is a must for our seedlings and plants.

What can you compost?

What I learned, if it can be eaten or grown in a field or garden, it can be composted. But there are some conflicting views on what can/can’t be composted. So I have broken it up into three categories.

YES
Fruits & vegetables
Grains
Unbleached paper napkins/coffee filters/paper plates
Eggshells
Hair/Fur
Tea and Tea Bags
Dryer and vacuum lint
Fireplace ashes
Clean paper
Hay and straw
Wood chips, twigs, sawdust
Yard trimmings, grass clippings, plant matter (as long as not treated with pesticides)

SOME SAY YES SOME SAY NO
Dairy Products
Meat Products
Egg Products
Oil Products
Insect Ridden Plants**
Compostable Bags, Plastic

NO
Coal or charcoal ash
Diseased Plants
Pet Waste
Human Waste (feces, blood, tampons, etc)
Grass Clippings or yard trimmings treated with harsh chemicals or pesticides
Plants such as dandelion, black walnut*

The concern here is if the compost bin is close to the house it can cause odor problems and attract pests. We don’t normally put these from our kitchen in a compost bin, but we have a few times buried small farm animals in the compost area. It is amazing how fast they disappear, due to the healthy microbes in the compost.
Our consensus is if you have an insect ridden plant that needs disposing of, the compost and its healthy biome will keep it in check. If you are just starting your compost area, you might want to wait until it is firmly established.
* Black Walnut leaves and branches can be harmful to compost areas, so it is recommended to not add them. Some other plants such as dandelion, Ivys and large seeds (such as peach) will love the area and take root. We have a large peach tree in our compost area to prove it. :)

Another way to tell is to look for the plastic recycling or compostable symbol. Compostable plastics fall into the catch-all category marked by the number 7. However, a compostable plastic will also have the letters PLA underneath the symbol. There is an interesting slippery slope on this one, but for Liferoot, we tend to only throw a very small percentage of compostable bags in the bin, as we feel they can take a while to break down.

Ok! Go forth and reduce food waste and compost!

And if you need a cute composter for your kitchen counter look no further. Click HERE.

Shoot us some comments or questions if need be. Xoxo

Could your moldy orange be hurting the planet?