Recycling your Food Waste

Rather than add food waste to the garbage can each night, which then goes onto the landfill, recycling it is a much better option. While it seems like it should have a cut and dry definition, there is some debate at the institutional and governmental level as to what constitutes food waste. For the average consumer, though, it is any raw or cooked foodstuff which either is or is intended to be discarded. In the leading industrial nations food waste is a serious problem. By some estimates, more than 40 billion dollars worth of edible food is discarded annually in the U.S. alone. At an individual level, recycling is the best method for appropriately dealing with food waste. Instead of simply throwing food waste away, there are two very easy ways to better deal with it in the home: composting and mechanical disposal.

Composting

All organic products are biodegradable which means they can be broken down in a natural, environmentally-friendly way. One of the ways to do this is through a compost pile or bin. In the right quantities and with the right procedure, food waste can be combined with other organic waste such as grass clippings, cuttings from trees, shrubs and flowers and even coffee grounds to make compost. Compost is essentially a form of natural fertilizer that returns to the soil many of the nutrients that were taken out of it to grow plants. Composting completes the cycle of life. Plants are grown, turned into food and consumed. What is waste is added to the compost pile where, after time, it breaks down into a rich, nutrient-filled fertilizer used to help grow new plants. 

Compostable Food Waste

While it differs for commercial, large-scale composting outfits which have the means to compost any organic product from animal bones to processed sweets to flatware and cutlery made from corn oil, the compost process is less complex in the home. As a rule, animal fats and remnants should not be added to the compost pile. An exception to this is eggshells. Bones, lard, skins and other waste should be thrown out. Almost any other organic food waste is compostable.

Garbage Disposal of Food Waste

A garbage disposal is not a new invention, but it is nonetheless effective at recycling food waste. A mechanical garbage disposal unit installs under the kitchen sink and forms a part of the drain system. Appropriate food waste is put into the garbage disposal where it is pulverized and washed down the drain. It reaches the treatment plant and is added to sewage before becoming sludge. This method of food waste recycling can put strain on the sewer system, but it accomplishes the task of turning food waste into a semi-liquid form. In this way it does not end up in the landfill. Instead it is treated, turned to sludge, digested and landfilled in much smaller amounts.  

Another method for food waste recycling involves incinerating it for the methane contained within. The burning produces steam which turns turbines to produce electricity. In order to be efficient, this process must be done on a large scale. In the home, the best ways to recycle foodstuffs and reduce the amount that ends up in the landfill are to compost or to use a garbage disposal.