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What's Waste got to do with Climate Change?

It's hard to accept - but even what we throw out has an effect on our planet!

Let's look at what happens in our homes.

If we throw out food waste...

Suppose we're in our kitchen and we end up with 1kg of food waste (about the weight of 3 apples).

If we throw that waste into the garbage, some of the food is going to decompose into a greenhouse gas.

How much is converted depends on the temperature. Let’s say the temperature inside the garbage is 36 degrees Celsius. Then we know that the percent of carbon that will convert to gas is 78.4%

So of the total carbon in that 1 kg of waste, 0.125 kg of carbon is going to be converted to some gas.

How do we know what gases will be produced?

The type of gas that's going to be converted depends on where the garbage is. If there's oxygen available (like at home in your green bin) then mostly it'll be converted to carbon dioxide. If there's not much available oxygen, (like in a landfill), half of it will be converted methane and the other half to carbon dioxide.

So:

  • in a landfill 1kg of food waste produces 0.833kg of methane
  • at your home, that same 1 kg of waste will produce NO methane but will still produce carbon dioxide

Why Composting at Home is Best

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas but methane is 20 times more potent! By composting at home you're stemming global warming.

WHAT HAPPENS IN LANDFILLS?

Stuff in the landfill goes through 3 stages. The first stage is called aerobic decomposition. The solid wastes that are biodegradable react with the oxygen in the landfill and begin to form carbon dioxide and water.

The next stage is the anaerobic process where microorganisms that don't need oxygen break the wastes down into hydrogen, ammonia, carbon dioxide and inorganic acids.

In the third stage of decomposition in a landfill, methane gas is produced. Sufficient amounts of water and warm temperatures have to be present for the microorganisms to form the gas. About half of the gas produced during this stage will be carbon dioxide, but the other half will be methane.