Can Composting Be Our Cure?

Every day, ordinary people across the country waste tons of food without thinking about the impact. One banana peel in the trash can may seem trivial. But when these actions add up, the impacts can be disastrous for the environment. Food waste is one of the most overlooked sources of preventable environmental damage we encounter every day.

In the US, food is the most common material sent to landfills. In these environments, food waste does not decompose harmlessly; as it degrades, it releases large amounts of methane. Municipal solid waste landfills are the third largest human-related (anthropogenic) source of methane emissions in the US. Methane has long been known to cause significant environmental damage. Over 20 years, a ton of methane traps about 85 times as much heat as a ton of carbon dioxide. Food waste is an immediate threat because within months of being disposed of in a landfill, it begins emitting methane.

Composting is the solution. Composting keeps food waste out of landfills by turning it into soil fertilizer. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recycling organic waste into compost reduces methane emissions from landfills. This process recovers nutrients from organic materials, creates green jobs, and extends the life of municipal landfills. Compost also reduces demand for chemical fertilizers, avoiding emissions from their manufacture and use. Despite the obvious advantages of composting, implementation is not widespread. In 2019, of the 66.2 million tons of wasted food generated in the food-related sectors in the United States, only 5% was composted. But if composting is this beneficial, why is it so rarely done?

Cost is the most common objection to sustainable initiatives, especially composting. Composting does entail real expenses: containers, collection, hauling, and staffing. For corporations with limited budgets, the benefits of composting matter less than the immediate costs. As a result, many green initiatives struggle because their benefits are hard to measure. However, the EPA still reports that wasting food in the US produces greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of more than 50 million gas-powered passenger vehicles. Those emissions have consequences that the institutions overlook (damage to farmland, more extreme weather, and public health harms). 

This climate crisis is global. Many cultures and faith traditions teach that we are responsible for caring for the planet. For a community shaped by Catholic tradition, the argument for composting is rooted in religion. In his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis recognizes that roughly a third of all food produced is discarded. He calls for Catholics and all people to prioritize the environment and care for the Earth, Our Common Home. This universal call reminds us that while one person's choice may seem small, collective change begins with small choices.

In New York City, the emphasis has shifted to composting as a necessity. Local Law 85 of 2023 required the Department of Sanitation to create a mandatory composting program for all residential properties. In October 2024, the program finished rolling out across NYC as the nation’s largest residential curbside organics program. The city requires residents to separate food waste and food-soiled paper from trash. If the city expects households to separate food scraps, institutions should meet that standard too.

Composting reduces methane emissions at the source, replenishing the soil with nutrients. As we have seen, any composting assessment must also count the cost of inaction. Upfront costs and contamination lead many executives to overlook composting and other green initiatives, but with commitment to a well-designed plan, we can achieve our goal. Our common home can only be saved through collective action. Putting a peel in the brown composting bin might not save the planet by itself, but it is a spark for bigger change.

By Gabriele Troiano

September 20, 2026