About one-third of all food in the United States is thrown away; much of this goes into landfills, where it produces large amounts of planet-warming methane. If this were composted instead, these emissions would shrink, and the process would produce compost material that farmers could use on fields, helping to increase crop yields, reduce irrigation needs and absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Plastic and other packaging is also rapidly filling landfills, as well as ending up in the environment, where it breaks down into microplastics, posing a growing threat to environmental and human health.
