Food in Landfills Drives Climate Change

Food is the most prevalent material in municipal landfills, making up about a quarter of our landfill content by weight. This leads to high amounts of methane emissions as food decomposes, not to mention the wasted household and municipal costs of growing, purchasing, and disposing of wasted food. Waste diversion policies allow states to prevent food from being disposed of in landfills and incinerators, which forces states, cities, residents, institutions, and businesses to find better solutions for their food waste, including rightsizing purchasing and donating surplus food or recycling it through composting or other methods. NRDC is leading efforts to pass ambitious, enforceable food waste diversion policies that expand infrastructure and education for food waste prevention, food rescue, and food scrap recycling.