We grew the food,
we ate it all,
Then built a system
for its fall.
A bin, a rule,
a place, a way
Why does returning
take so much today?
There are a surprising number of steps between eating a banana and composting its peel.
At least in my town, composting isn’t as simple as tossing food scraps into a bin and putting it at the curb. You have to sign up, figure out what the program accepts, find the right place to bring your scraps, and remember to actually bring them there.
None of this is particularly difficult, but sometimes I wonder, why does composting have to feel so complicated? After all, we’re just trying to return food to the earth.
Food scraps don’t stop being useful just because we’re finished eating them. A banana peel, apple core, or handful of coffee grounds still contains organic material that can be broken down and returned to the soil. When we throw those scraps into the trash, they usually end up in a landfill. In the United States, food makes up about 24% of the material sent to landfills, making it the largest category of municipal solid waste going to landfills. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
And landfills aren’t particularly good places for food. When organic waste decomposes without enough oxygen, it can produce methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Composting provides a different environment, allowing microorganisms to break organic material down in the presence of oxygen. The result is compost, a dark, nutrient-rich material that can be added back to soil. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
Compost can improve soil structure, help soil retain water, reduce erosion and runoff, and add organic matter that supports plants and soil organisms. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) It’s not going to solve climate change by itself, but it is one way of keeping nutrients in circulation instead of treating them as waste.
However, the best way to deal with wasted food is really to not waste it in the first place. The EPA’s food recovery hierarchy places reducing wasted food above composting because growing, transporting, packaging, and preparing food all require land, water, energy, and other resources. Composting is for what remains.
So what can we do with it?
If your community offers food-scrap collection, use it. If there’s a local drop-off, bring your scraps there. If you have the space and the right setup, you can compost at home. Even keeping a small container in the kitchen for food scraps can make the habit easier to maintain.
And if none of those options are available, that’s important too. Composting is often presented as an individual choice: just compost! But individual choices are shaped by the systems around us. It’s a lot easier to compost when there’s a convenient place to bring your scraps than when the nearest option is miles away.
That means communities have a role to play, too. Schools, restaurants, apartment buildings, towns, and community gardens can all make composting more accessible by providing collection or drop-off options.
This way, a banana peel doesn’t have to be the end of a cycle.
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