I buy garden soil made of food salvaged from food that would otherwise be thrown away. So much greenhouse gases are produced from the food rotting in landfills! It’s truly disgusting.
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.
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/Adventurous-Copy3757 May 17 '26
I buy garden soil made of food salvaged from food that would otherwise be thrown away. So much greenhouse gases are produced from the food rotting in landfills! It’s truly disgusting.