Composting food waste remains your best option, says UW study

I have been composting since high school or college, because it produces humus which is good for the soil.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/uow-cfw121615.php

Public Release: 16-Dec-2015
Composting food waste remains your best option, says UW study
University of Washington

Many people compost their food scraps and yard waste because they think it's the right thing to do.

A new University of Washington study confirms that sentiment, and also calculates the environmental benefits associated with keeping these organic materials out of landfills.

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"You should definitely pay attention to where you put your food waste, and you should feel good you live in a place where compost is an option," said paper author Sally Brown, a UW research associate professor of environmental and forest sciences.

Food waste in particular generates a significant amount of the greenhouse gas methane when it's buried in landfills, but not so when composted. U.S. cities and counties that offer composting prevent otherwise trash-bound food scraps from decomposing in landfills and generating methane -- and they get a significant carbon credit as a result.

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composting food scraps and woody yard materials together makes sense because dryer, high-carbon, yard trimmings mix with soggy food scraps to create ideal conditions for the compost process, she added.

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