Don’t just throw it away.

Food waste alone composes more than 20% of our landfill waste. Aside from the fact that we’re purchasing more food than we can consume and therefore wasting it, there is a major environmental concern associated with throwing away all this food.

When the food ends up in a landfill site, its fate is pretty much determined – to become burned. The problem with this is that the burning produces methane, a greenhouse gas equally harmful as carbon dioxide, if not more. Since we don’t want to damage our planet more than it already has been with all of these greenhouse gases, we need to take action.

So where do we go from here? For starters, make sure your food waste is indeed waste. If your food is unopened and unexpired, it’s not waste. To find out what to do with such foods, read about how/where to donate, right here.

Now, once you have enjoyed your delicious meals and are left with food scraps, or unfortunately couldn’t get to your formerly fresh produce, it’s time to get get rid of all of it. There’s a lot of use for food waste, such as organic fertilizer. However, not everyone has the needs nor the means to create or maintain compost fertilizer. That’s where several local companies come in- thanks to their service, we can eliminate the production of a chunk of hazardous greenhouse gases, one food waste at a time.

Companies that Take the Waste Out of Food Waste

• Circle Compost: They’ll accept pretty much any type of food waste from eggshells, coffee ground, and more. Plus, they provide the buckets. The compost will eventually be used for Philadelphia’s farms and gardens. P.O. Box 2038 Philadelphia, PA 19103
• Kitchen Harvest, Inc.: They offer bi-weekly pick-up from both homes and businesses in the ‘burbs. Areas available for food waste pickup include Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Wayne; Aston, Drexel Hill, Folsom, Havertown, Lansdowne; Media, Swarthmore; and their neighboring towns. 733 Foss Ave. Drexel Hill, PA 19026
• Mom’s Organic Market: While you can’t discard your food waste at the recycling centers, you can recycle things such as juice pouches and granola bar wrappers. 1149 E. Lancaster Ave. Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 & 34 South 11th Street Philadelphia, PA 19107
• Bennett Compost: Similar to Circle Compost, they also go to your residence or business to pick up the bucket, to eventually create compost used for farms and gardens. 2901 W. Hunting Park Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19129

The next time you’re walking toward a regular trash can with you banana peel, consider supporting one of the local businesses above. Also, we don’t have commercial composting here, so by supporting a local business, you’re showing the city that we NEED ONE.

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Sarah is a junior at the University of Michigan studying Public Health and Chemistry. She hopes to pursue a future that intertwines her interests in education and public health. Her favorite way of learning is by listening to a good podcast (anything NPR). You can almost always find Sarah with a cup of her favorite beverage, tea. View all posts by Sarah Jang