Organics Don’t Belong in Landfills

• When organic waste decomposes in a landfill it decomposes anaerobically – without oxygen – and releases methane into the environment
• When organics are landfilled their valuable components can’t be recovered, recycled or reused
• We lose critical nutrients that could be returned to the soil restoring soil health and the vitality of the soil food web
• We miss an opportunity to efficiently capture the energy potential stored in this renewable energy source
• We waste the energy, fresh water, and natural resources used to produce and distribute the organics before they entered the waste stream
• We crowd dwindling landfill space with a waste stream that could be recycled

Methane Mitigation Matters

• With a greenhouse effect 72 times more powerful than CO2 over a 20 year period, methane is a powerful and central contributor to global climate change
• Because methane is both potent and short-lived, reducing and avoiding methane emissions through activities like organics recycling is one of the best ways to achieve a near-term beneficial impact in mitigating global climate change.