Composting food would aid sustainability

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Food is a major part of our everyday lives, whether we are eating breakfast on the go or celebrating the holidays. Although food is associated with good times, the way in which it is often disposed of has many negative consequences that must be avoided for the sake of current and future generations.
According to a paper by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), putting food on the table uses 50 percent of America’s land, and 80 percent of the freshwater consumed in America. Even food that was sustainably farmed is not sustainable if it is never consumed; 40 percent of food in America is uneaten and almost all of that rots in landfills. Reducing that loss by just 15 percent could feed more than 25 million Americans annually, as one in six Americans lacks a secure food supply.
Sixty million metric tons of food is wasted annually in America, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About half of the wasted food enters municipal landfills, costing local governments approximately $1.5 billion annually, according to an article in The New York Times.
Currently, the Hewlett and Woodmere communities does not sustainably dispose of its food. Given the emphasis that our district’s schools place on sustainability, it is appropriate that our community work to minimize food waste. Employing such strategies will alleviate local hunger, efficiently use resources, and considerably reduce costs.
I propose that our community should begin composting food. Composting minimizes and manages waste by decreasing methane emissions, recycling nutrients, and increasing awareness about the quantities of food wasted, as discussed in the NRDC paper.

Food is composted at Cornell University. All the dining halls and cafes have composting bins. In 2013, Cornell collected 835.7 tons of dining compost. Cornell adds its collected compost to soil on its campus and farms. This is an incredibly large amount of waste minimized, provided that more than 224 pounds of food was wasted annually per American in 2009 and that food waste is the single, largest component of municipal waste in America, according to PBS.
I believe that our community’s businesses and homes should collect compost with an organization of student leaders similar to Cornell’s student organization, CU Compost, which promotes compost practices. Moreover, the Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Tompkins County has a Compost Education Program. I urge our community to further develop its existing relationship with CEE to investigate how we can promptly start composting because education about food waste reduction can enhance food use efficiency.
Households in Austin, Texas use composting bins as part of the city’s goal to eliminate 90 percent of its waste sent to landfills by 2040. By taking a free composting class, Austin residents earn a $75 rebate on the purchase of a home composting system. The Town of Hempstead and/or Nassau County could create incentives and a campaign about reducing food waste.
While community-wide efforts are being developed, it is essential that we take individual action. We should plan our meals and use shopping lists to decrease the amount of discarded food per household. We need to understand that certain foods can be safely consumed after their expiration dates. Also, we should carefully consider the size of the portions we cook and order. These simple efforts can mitigate the issue of food waste because achieving sustainability is an individual effort as much as a concerted one.
Increasing the efficiency of our food system requires collaboration among businesses, governments, and consumers. I believe that now is our community’s turn to act. Inform your neighbors and friends about the pressing issue of food waste and its economic, social, and environmental implications. Also, next time you leave your meal unfinished, think twice about what to then do with it.

Hagen wrote this opinion piece based on research she conducted as part of taking a biological and environmental engineering course about sustainability at Cornell University, where she is entering her junior year.