California produces nearly 48 million tons of
trash every year. A decade ago, the Golden State mandated that it
cut landfill waste by 50 percent in an attempt to reduce these
numbers. The state is close to its goal: It’s reduced landfill
waste by nearly 40 percent so far, and some say composting has been
the key to dumping the trash.
Matt Cotton, who
runs a compost consulting business in Nevada City, says cutting the
number of landfill sites from the thousands to the hundreds is
critical.
“Some people say, “We’ve got lots of
land in the West, let’s bury this stuff,” but landfills leak
methane gas. Even the best landfills only get rid of 50 percent of
methane, which is a terrible greenhouse gas,” says Cotton.
“We’ve got thin layers of topsoil in California
and across the West,” he adds. “Replacing organics lost with
organics we’re otherwise burying in landfills just makes a lot of
sense.”
Mark Van Horn, who has run the student
farm at University of California-Davis for the past 13 years,
agrees. He works with students to collect food waste from campus
restaurants and festivals, and they now compost everything from
crab shells to utensils made from cornstarch. He says composting is
the reason for the university farm’s prolific
produce.
People around the country have started
to follow California’s example. So far, there are more than 3,500
commercial compost facilities nationwide, helping to turn old food
into new crops.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Composting takes out the trash.
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