Fighting climate change through composting
‘The first step is not wasting food,’ but Americans waste plenty
With summer heat and storms threatening to take more lives across the nation, the need to curb climate change is becoming more urgent.
“One problem for many people is figuring out where to begin to take action,” said Amy DeLorenzo, an educator with the University of Illinois Extension.
“The first step is not wasting food.”
Americans waste 30% to 40% of the food that is produced annually, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The next step is keeping vegetable peelings and other waste related to food preparation out of landfills, DeLorenzo said.
The reason these two measures are so important is anaerobic conditions in landfills cause food waste to produce enormous quantities of methane gas. Methane is 25 times more powerful at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
“I’m from an era of learning about CO2 and CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), but now the conversation has shifted to methane,” DeLorenzo said.
Petroleum production and agriculture produce more than 60% of methane from human-made sources, but landfills also account for 15%, according to the EPA.
Composting, which exposes food waste to oxygen as it breaks down, prevents the production of methane, DeLorenzo said.
For that reason, Illinois Extension’s Cook County office has set up a series of area events to showcase the composting process and its benefits. First, it will be working with the village of Park Forest to host a community compost collection at the corner of Liberty Drive and Forest Boulevard from 7 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
“It’s drop and swap,” said Carrie Malfeo, sustainability coordinator for Park Forest.
Whoever wants can bring their grass clippings, leaves, landscape waste and kitchen scraps such as eggshells, coffee grounds, vegetable skins and stems in exchange for equal measures of mature compost to use in their yards and gardens.
Participants should avoid bringing branches 2 inches or more in diameter, products containing oil, dressings, dairy, produce stickers, meat or bones. These will be rejected.
Demonstrations of home composting setups will include vermiculture, which uses worms to accelerate decomposition.
Malfeo notified residents well in advance of the event through social media, postings on the Park Village Sustainability Office website and through flyers sent to homes inside of water bills. But others are welcome.
“We’re shooting to collect 10 tons,” she said. “That’s why we’ve contacted lots of landfill companies too.”
How will the yard and food waste be weighed? Lake Forest Recycling has a scale, Malfeo said.
Participants also can enter a raffle to win a two-chamber compost tumbler. They also will receive a flyer explaining the composting process, which involves establishing an outdoor heap or receptacle for processing.
Malfeo, who has been composting for 20 years, described how the process “brings food full circle” by reconnecting it back with the earth and using it to enrich the growth of more food and plants.
Unlike chemicals that can rapidly boost plant growth, composting conditions soil to retain more moisture and support the overall health of plants.
Park Forest will use some of the resulting compost from the collection to enrich public gardens, Malfeo said.
Park Forest is not the only community the Illinois Extension has targeted with the goal of spreading compost awareness.
Homewood will host a community compost collection from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 24, at the Farmers Market on Martin Avenue near the Science Center at 18022 Dixie Highway. Other Illinois Extension composting-related events include a pumpkin smash being planned for the fall.