Take Action and Compost!

According to UC Davis 1.3 billion tons of the US’s food waste ends up in the landfill. But, why does that matter?

When food waste isn’t recycled properly or composted it emits harmful gasses into our atmosphere like methane and nitrous oxide. In fact, 8% of early gas pollutants in our atmosphere are from food that isn’t disposed of properly. That's why my peers and I from a food waste diversion group at Terra Linda High School have chosen to spread the word of composting in an organization called Painted Bns who takes environment or compost based art from elementary-schoolers and posts it on compost bins for the general public to see.

Not enough people know the consequences of not composting. Specifically, the University of Florida details that only 27% of Americans compost all the time. On top of this, only 54% of Americans said they were interested in learning how to properly compost or why it’s important. 

I believe that the base of most problems in the US aren’t the issues themselves, but instead people's motivation to change them or learn about them.  The lack of composting is a huge problem today and not nearly enough people are trying to stop it.

The purpose of me giving this speech is to tell you to be like the 1/4th of Americans that compost and more so open yourself up fully to learning whenever you can. Because the fact that so many don’t know about this problem and don’t want to learn is a huge issue.

 So, take action and try to widen your knowledge a little bit at a time every day.

Alex Psychoyos, 9th Grade, Marin School of Environmental Leadership
Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, CA

Click here to learn more about composting and food waste