Composting is often framed as a gardening hobby, but it is also a climate action. The reason comes down to what happens when food waste ends up in a landfill instead of a compost pile.
Why landfilled food is a problem
When food breaks down in a landfill, it is buried without oxygen, and that anaerobic environment produces methane. According to the EPA, municipal solid waste landfills are one of the largest sources of human-related methane emissions in the United States. Methane is a short-lived but powerful greenhouse gas, with far more warming potential than carbon dioxide over the near term.
How composting changes the outcome
Composting breaks material down with oxygen, which produces far less methane, and the finished compost stores carbon in the soil while reducing the need for synthetic fertilizer. The EPA’s sustainable management of food resources rank preventing and diverting food waste among the most effective steps households can take.
Preventing waste comes first
Composting is important, but it is not the first choice for edible food. The EPA’s Wasted Food Scale prioritizes preventing surplus food, donating suitable food, and using food for people before recycling the unavoidable remainder. That order matters because growing, cooling, transporting, and cooking food already used land, water, energy, and labor. Composting recovers value from scraps; prevention preserves the value of the food itself.
Compost can help soil handle a changing climate
Mature compost adds organic matter that can improve soil structure and water retention. Healthier soil can absorb rainfall more effectively and may need less irrigation during dry periods. Results vary by soil, climate, and application, so compost is not a single solution to climate change. It is one useful part of a broader system that includes wasting less food and keeping organics out of landfills.
What about anaerobic digestion?
Some food scraps are processed in sealed digesters rather than open composting systems. Microorganisms break the material down without oxygen, but unlike a landfill, the facility is designed to capture the biogas. That gas can be used for energy, while the remaining material can be managed for beneficial use. The EPA recognizes both composting and anaerobic digestion as pathways for recycling food scraps when prevention and donation are no longer possible.
Why household participation still matters
One banana peel is not a climate strategy. A reliable habit shared by hundreds of households is different. It gives collection programs a predictable stream of material, helps communities learn what infrastructure they need, and makes food-waste diversion normal. The point is not individual perfection. It is steady participation in a system that can scale.
The local picture
Food waste is a big share of what we throw away, so diverting it adds up quickly across a community. That is the whole idea behind Torus. You can read more about the problem we are solving and see our measured impact on the about page.
Turn your scraps into impact
Every bucket kept out of a landfill is a small, direct reduction in emissions. If you are in New Jersey, sign up for free composting and let us handle the rest.