Recycling food waste through methods like composting, anaerobic digestion, and repurposing as animal feed (refeed) dramatically reduces greenhouse gas emissions compared to landfill disposal. When food waste decomposes in landfills, it generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas with 80 times the warming power of CO₂ over 20 years. The study analyzed 91 field studies across 29 countries and found that diverting food waste from landfills to recycling pathways could significantly curb emissions. For example, eliminating landfill disposal in the U.S., EU, and China, identified as “methane super emitters”, could offset emissions equivalent to 9 million U.S. dairy cows. Additionally, “refeed” programs could repurpose suitable waste for livestock, reducing the need for resource-intensive crops like soy and maize, thereby conserving land and cutting emissions further.
Recycling food waste through methods like composting, anaerobic digestion, and repurposing as animal feed (refeed) dramatically reduces greenhouse gas emissions compared to landfill disposal. When food waste decomposes in landfills, it generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas with 80 times the warming power of CO₂ over 20 years. The study analyzed 91 field studies across 29 countries and found that diverting food waste from landfills to recycling pathways could significantly curb emissions. For example, eliminating landfill disposal in the U.S., EU, and China, identified as “methane super emitters”, could offset emissions equivalent to 9 million U.S. dairy cows. Additionally, “refeed” programs could repurpose suitable waste for livestock, reducing the need for resource-intensive crops like soy and maize, thereby conserving land and cutting emissions further.
