Composting or Garbage Disposal?

The topic for this blog post arose out of a dinner table conversation I had with my family a few nights ago. I mentioned that I hope to one day (when I have a house and yard) have my own compost system.

As my family began to ask questions about it, I really didn’t have too much knowledge to share and the most pressing question that haunted me that I didn’t have the answer to was: “Does it make much of a difference if I put it (any organic matter) in the garbage disposal versus a compost pile?” And for that matter – versus putting it in the garbage can?

My initial answer was that compost is better simply based on the fact that when you put waste down the garbage disposal, it creates more work for the water treatment plants. I had just taken a course where we did a case study on polluted water and learned about the amounts of water that must be cleaned and purified at treatment plants, so to me, the thought of adding anything to that amount seemed not optimal. And compared to putting organic matter in the garbage can, the matter would be eventually transferred to a landfill where it would sit in a plastic bag and be piled under mounds of plastic and garbage where it would break down without oxygen – creating methane gas. After that dinner conversation, I wanted to find concrete facts to either confirm or deny my initial response. So here is what I found:

Composting is by far the best option to dispose of food waste. It involves no extra energy to transport the waste (except perhaps the few steps to the compost bin) unlike garbage trucks that lug your trash all the way to the landfill or all the electricity used in transporting and treating dirty water. Composting also allows the food waste to be broken down aerobically (exposed to oxygen) so that the byproduct gas is carbon dioxide, which is less harmful than the byproduct of anaerobic breakdown: methane. In fact, an article by Science Daily states that “methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas.”

However, there are some times you just can’t compost. Something accidentally falls down the drain, your compost bin is full, or you won’t put meat and dairy in the compost because it is what creates the most noxious odors.

When the waste does go down the drain, it goes into the water supply and eventually ends up at your town’s wastewater treatment center. There, the center strains out particles of food and waste, and typically this stuff that is strained out of the water is then transported to the landfill. Some plants may have other ways of disposing of the waste, but typically it goes to a landfill. So, if you don’t compost and opt for either the trash can or the garbage disposal, the waste will end up in a landfill, where it will decompose under anaerobic conditions and release methane into the atmosphere.

If you take composting out of the equation and are trying to decide between garbage disposal versus trashcan- I can’t really tell you which one is best. Either way, the waste you produce will probably be decomposed anaerobically. However, some water treatment plants have their own landfill where they capture the methane that is produced, therefore preventing its release into the atmosphere. There are too many ambiguous facts about which method is better based on the amount of energy input required to adequately deal with the waste.

Composting, however, is the ultimate way to go: it is minimally energy intensive, creates less harmful greenhouse gasses, and provides you with a great, natural fertilizer to use in your garden. There are many websites that give you the how-to’s of composting, so starting your own compost pile should be easy and rewarding!

References:
http://vegweb.com/composting/ (great site for the how-to’s and FAQs of composting)
http://www.slate.com/id/2201176/
http://www.wickedtastyharvest.com/wicked_tasty_harvest/2009/05/runoff-compost-vs-garbage-disposal-vs-trash.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423181652.htm