One of the best things that can be done with food waste is composting. Food waste in urban areas is being sent to landfills right now and is resulting in the release of methane gas into the atmosphere which is resulting in negative impacts to the environment. New York is putting in place a mandatory composting system. This means that everyone will need to buy a composting bin and sperate their food waste from other garbage in their home. The garbage trucks will then come by and collect the composting bins on recycling days and take the food waste to a site in New Jersey and store it inside of windrows until it is turned into soil and then would be sold to companies. This will begin October 2nd and will be legal six months later. If a person is caught not separating their food waste and trash, then they will be issued a ticket. There are also public orange bins called smart bins that people could put food waste into. In order to utilize these bins, the person would need to download an app on their smart phone so they could unlock and open the bin. They recommend people to use Ziploc bags to store food waste until it is ready to be picked up by the sanitation department on recycling day. They believe that this will help cut back on greenhouse emissions that are produced by food waste.
Howard, Hilary. “Mandatory Composting Is Coming to New York City: What You Need to Know.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Aug. 2023, http://www.nytimes.com/article/curbside-composting-brooklyn.html.
