Sustainability & Environment

By EPA estimates, the United States generates roughly 100 million tons of food waste annually. Roughly 60-70% of that goes to landfill — somewhere between 60 and 70 million tons of food per year ending up in landfills. The remainder is split among composting (around 5-9 million tons), incineration (around 20 million tons), and other…

Hotels generate substantial organic waste streams: kitchen prep waste from restaurants and banquets, plate waste from dining service, food spoilage, breakfast buffet leftovers, in-room food service, lobby coffee operations. A typical mid-sized full-service hotel might generate 200-1500 pounds of organic waste daily. Composting programs can divert most of this from landfill while supporting sustainability commitments,…

Sour milk doesn’t have to go down the drain. Slightly soured milk — past its prime but not yet spoiled — has substantial culinary value. Pancakes, biscuits, cornbread, marinades, soups, even basic homemade cheese all use sour milk as their working ingredient. Pets often enjoy small amounts. And as last resort, modest amounts can integrate…

The short answer is: technically yes, but practically no for most yard waste. Kitchen bins are designed for kitchen scraps — small volumes of food waste collected daily on a countertop or under a sink. Yard waste is usually too bulky and too voluminous for a typical kitchen bin to handle effectively. Small amounts of…

Earth Day tree plantings — annual events where communities, schools, and organizations plant trees on April 22 — celebrate environmental commitment with concrete action. Compost makes those trees work better. Trees planted into compost-amended soil establish faster and grow stronger. Compost mulched around new trees retains moisture and suppresses weeds. Trees produce substantial leaf litter…

Households with multiple pets generate substantial organic waste streams: pet hair, food spillage, bedding from cages and litter boxes, kitchen scraps from meal preparation. Some of it composts cleanly; some requires careful handling; some is best kept separate from food-garden compost. The pet-loving household working through composting needs different protocols for different pet types —…

Most home cooks treat fresh herb stems as compost-bound waste. The leaves go to the dish; the stems go to the bin. The pattern misses substantial flavor and food value. Parsley stems are nearly as flavorful as the leaves. Cilantro stems carry the herb’s aromatic core. Even woody thyme and rosemary stems release flavor when…

The short answer: red wigglers (Eisenia fetida). They’re the gold standard for vermicomposting and the species most commercial worm farms sell for home bins. Red wigglers tolerate the compact, warm, food-rich conditions of a bin. They reproduce quickly. They process food waste at substantial rates. They don’t burrow deep like garden earthworms (which would die…

A three-bin compost system is the classic backyard composting setup, used by serious gardeners for decades. Three adjacent bins handle the three stages of composting: fresh additions in bin one, active decomposition in bin two, finished compost curing in bin three. Material moves from left to right as it ages. The setup handles substantial volume,…

End-of-season vegetable garden cleanup produces substantial plant material — spent tomato vines, dead pepper plants, leftover squash and cucumber growth, garden debris. Most of this composts cleanly. Some of it shouldn’t. Plants affected by tomato blight, powdery mildew, fusarium wilt, or other persistent diseases can spread infection if added to compost piles that don’t reach…

Americans grow roughly 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins for Halloween. Most of that — by industry estimates roughly 80% — ends up in landfills within days of November 1. The pumpkins are entirely compostable, providing substantial nitrogen-rich material for compost piles, garden beds, livestock feed, and wildlife habitat. Composting Halloween pumpkins instead of trashing them…

Every packaging product moves through a sequence of stages from material sourcing through end-of-life disposal. Each stage has environmental impacts: energy used, water consumed, emissions released, waste generated. Understanding the stages — what happens at each, why each matters, where each can improve — is foundational for thinking about packaging sustainability beyond marketing claims. Here’s…