Why is compostable food packaging important?

[ Source: Better Earth ]

• Compostable packaging can be a catalyst for diverting both food waste and plastic from landfills. 

• In 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that more than half of all municipal solid waste in landfills was compostable.  

• Takeout orders account for around 269,000 US tons of plastic waste that has entered the oceans. According to the NOAA Ocean Service, plastic doesn’t decompose and can stick around indefinitely.  And every day, more cities, counties, states and even countries are joining the movement to ban single-use plastics in favor of sustainable alternatives like compostable and reusable products. 

• Compost alone has the power to sequester a year’s worth of carbon emissions. More carbon resides in soil than in the atmosphere and all plant life combined. Soil holds 2,500 billion tons of carbon, compared with 800 billion tons in the atmosphere and 560 billion tons in plant and animal life. When organic matter decomposes in a landfill, it creates methane, a greenhouse gas 25x more potent than carbon dioxide, and other greenhouse gasses. When food waste is composted in an aerobic composting process, instead of creating greenhouse gasses, it can sequester and store carbon–an essential nutrient for plants! It still does create some carbon dioxide but small enough amounts that it is sequestered by the finished compost piles or trees nearby.

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