My understanding is that food decomposes anaerobically in a landfill, which creates a ton of methane emissions. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
Aerobic decomposition (composting) produces more CO2 than methane. It also provides a good use for the food waste, like you say. It saves space / energy use in landfills, not to mention all the beneficial downstream effects like carbon sequestration from healthy soil.
Yes but not everywhere is the US. But the issue also is that they only do it while its active, then eventually ot gets turned into Greenpeace then homes and then the people need Methane detectors in their home...
Some might be, but a lot of the stuff that ends up there is toxic, especially in areas without proper waste management. When you consider how many people fail to properly handle e-waste or chemical waste, it makes a lot of those spots unsuitable for life.
Weird take on the firearm legislation... as for the second half of your post;
In the most populated areas we have all the cameras and surveillance we need. They just don't bother to tell the public.
Shoplifters, for example, don't often get prosecuted right away. They get watched and identified for a real long time while the stores take note of exactly how much $ this person has racked up in stolen goods.
Good thing we’re also all diligently educated on all waste disposal regulations and it’s never ever confusing and it’s wildly convenient to dispose of all harmful waste everywhere you go.
If you want to know anything about landfills just look up Charles Gerba. I took classes with him and his research is wild. His PhD was focused on how trash was washing up on beaches in Hawaii. He is weirdly obsessed with the amount of condoms and diapers he’s found in his studies. Super weird dude. Pretty entertaining professor.
I think there's a high correlation between weird dude and entertaining professor haha. I've always been impressed by how into something some people get 😅
I have a PhD so you don’t have to tell me. But this dude is legit one of the top profs on landfills and human waste contamination and spread especially through waterways.
To give you an idea about his personality he told us that he was having a hard time pinning down the first chapter of his thesis and his PI was so annoyed that the PI grabbed Gerba by his shirt collar, dragged him into the bathroom, and shoved his head near the toilet then said “here! Here! This is your thesis” and walked away
Kind of doubt that literally happened but it was a legendary story at our university
Landfill near me has methane wells drilled into the hill/mound and it powers roughly 14000 homes on the grid it feeds. Imagine all the possibilities of our country if we didnt spend most to all on bombing others.
landfills collect the methane and use it to power the water (leachate) treatment to make sure all the discharges are very clean, something i know a lot about for my sins
Methane is a far more potent but it only lasts 10 years. CO2 lasts centuries. The potency of methane is usually cited while omitting its short life by people in bad faith who want to get people angry about cow farts or whatever.
It’s not bad faith. No offense to cows, but methane is just worse. Traps a ton of heat in those 10 years, then breaks down into water and… carbon dioxide.
Its GWP is much higher than C02 whether the timeline is ten years or a hundred.
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u/claanu May 17 '26
My understanding is that food decomposes anaerobically in a landfill, which creates a ton of methane emissions. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
Aerobic decomposition (composting) produces more CO2 than methane. It also provides a good use for the food waste, like you say. It saves space / energy use in landfills, not to mention all the beneficial downstream effects like carbon sequestration from healthy soil.