If you’re an emotional creature like me, the psychological destruction when watching any kind of global warming video or planet Earth documentary is pretty intense. Being sensitive to these subject matters have made me especially prone to mental breakdowns because it’s freakin overwhelming. I watch these videos and I feel hopeless and full of self-pity. But when I do get out of that deep pit of despair, I look for solutions and practical things that I can do to help our fragile planet. Besides adopting a plant-based diet, my next proud habit that I’ve included into my lifestyle is drumroll please…….organic recycling!
AHH YEAH!
What is organic recycling?
Organics recycling includes collecting fruits, vegetables, bones, meat, breads, eggshells, non-recyclable and food-soiled paper, and more for composting [1]
Why should we compost or organic recycle?
The main reason why I compost is because of the environmental benefits. When we put our food scraps (aka organic waste) with our regular trash, we are contributing to methane deposit into our environment. Food that goes into landfills quickly rots and turns into methane, which is a potent green house gas. By composting you are improving soil structure and health, helping to increase drought resistance and it reduces the need for supplemental water, fertilizers and pesticides.
These food scrap that you’re recycling also gets turned into compost which is given to local farmers and other clients to use. Which means, nothing is going to waste and its all staying away from landfills! Woot woot!
How I compost in my small studio apartment:
- Clear up space in freezer
- Buy a freezer proof bowl
- Add food scraps throughout the week into your bowl
- Designate a day where you take it to your local organic dumping site (a quick google search will give you the info needed for where to bring your compost to)
- On day of compost removal, use a paper bag from grocery store to put your frozen food scrap/ organic material in.
- Drive to site, dump it
- Go home and REPEAT : )
That’s seriously all you have to do to keep the planet a little happier. 40% of landfills are full of organic material that could’ve been reused to create compost for our soil but it’s not [3]. So we need to do our part to lower this statisitic. Also, landfills contribute 20% of the methane that goes into our environment but by simply freezing your food scraps and bringing it to an organic recycling site, YOU can help that percentage go down.
Don’t stop there, let your friends, family, coworkers and everyone you meet know about this little earth-friendly life hack. I didn’t know about it until this year but boy do I wish I’ve known because it makes me feel really good. It makes me feel less bitter and hopeless about some of the damages being done to our Mother Earth. This gives me optimism that I, Bella Lam, can make a difference. No matter how small it might be.
That’s all on this topic for today! Do you compost? What are your thoughts on it? Let’s chat and and geek it up!
food scraps and saving the planet,
Bella
References:
[1] http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/solid-waste/organics/index.htm
[2] http://www.wastefwd.com/benefits.html
[3] https://www.wastewiseproductsinc.com/blog/sustainability/the-benefit-of-recycling-organic-waste/
