I’m always somewhat amazed by the cycles of nature. Our outbreath becomes a tree. Steam from a hot spring becomes water inside a coconut. Something gross, like a blackened banana peel, can turn into something luscious and lovely, like a dahlia blossom or heirloom tomato.
Cycles are everywhere in nature. An ocean, forest or meadow left to its own devices produces no waste. Finite resources simply rearrange themselves into different constellations. As humans reckon with the consequences of global climate change and other environmental problems driven by our use-it-once-and-throw-it-away mentality, natural cycles offer important models for how we can change our ways.
Composting, for example, is the process of letting bacteria, fungi, worms or other organisms break down organic material, such as kitchen scraps and yard waste, in the presence of oxygen. The end result is partially decayed organic matter called humus, which is a vital component of healthy topsoil.
America is quite removed from the practice of composting. In 2014, three out of four Americans didn’t compost. In 2015, roughly one-third of the material that Americans threw in the waste bin could have been composted instead, a whopping 50 million tons of waste. That’s enough compostable waste to fill a line of fully-loaded 18-wheelers, stretching from New York City to Los Angeles 10 times, according to Frontier Group, a think tank that recently published a report on the current state of composting in the United States.
Fifty million tons is a lot of organic material that could have been turned into humus. It’s worth considering the missed opportunity of not composting all that food and yard waste.
Some farmers and researchers call humus the “life force” of soil because its presence in soil helps fend off disease, helps soil retain moisture and encourages the formation of good soil structure.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that one-third of the world’s topsoil is degraded. The U.N. also reports that topsoil in the United States is eroding at more than nine times its natural rate of replacement.
Humus helps prevent topsoil erosion by allowing the soil to absorb more water during heavy rainfalls and by fostering robust plant growth. One study found that the application of compost helped reduce soil loss by 86 percent.
Figuring out how to transform those 50 million tons of food waste into valuable humus is a sensible step that would help address both our waste problems and promote a more sustainable food system.
There’s an opportunity right now to move the ball forward in that direction. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection recently began its process of developing a solid waste management master plan for 2020-2030.
Neither incineration or dumping should be acceptable avenues for organic waste under the DEP’s new plan. Food scraps and yard waste packed into landfills can’t degrade into compost. Instead, as they decompose, they release methane, a highly potent global warming gas. Meanwhile, burning organic waste in incinerators releases carbon dioxide and harmful air pollution. Massachusetts has 11 active landfills and seven incinerators, most of them in environmental justice communities already disproportionately suffering from pollution. And we know we can use the humus that comes from composting.
Recent actions at the local, state and corporate level should give us confidence that we are ready for a transition to circular material economies. In the last five years alone, the number of U.S. communities offering municipal composting programs has grown by 65 percent.
I don’t always include a call to action in my columns, but in this case, I just can’t resist. If you’re not already composting, I urge you to consider what it would take to start. Backyard composting is a great option for some; Amherst and Northampton sell composting bins at wholesale rates at the transfer station, and the municipal websites offer ample tips to get started. If backyard composting is not an option and you bring your waste to the transfer station, you can separate out your food scraps and bring them to the composting bins there. Unfortunately, the private waste haulers that serve Pioneer Valley communities don’t offer composting services at this time, but they’ve indicated an openness to starting. A nudge from consumers can’t hurt.
I also urge you to email dep.swmp@mass.gov and ask the state to develop concrete goals and timetables to transition Massachusetts to zero waste as part of its 2020-2030 solid waste master plan.
It’s beyond time for us to turn our black banana peels into dahlias.
Johanna Neumann, of Amherst, has spent the past two decades working to protect our air, water and open spaces, defend consumers in the marketplace and advance a more sustainable economy and democratic society. She writes a monthly column on environmental and public interest issues and can be reached at opinion@gazettenet.com.