It’s something we all probably do every day, but UK households are being urged not to put common fruit and vegetables in their kitchen bin. That’s because although sending fruit and veg to landfill might seem harmless – they decompose anyway, unlike plastic, right?
But actually, there’s a huge hidden environmental problem with chucking fruit and veg in the bin. Environment experts say that rotting fruit and veg in landfill is a huge contributor to climate change. That’s because rotting food in landfill produces methane, which is 26 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Fruit and veg sent to landfill is often left to rot trapped in huge piles of waste with no access to oxygen, which can make the amount of dangerous, polluting methane produced much worse. That’s why people who eat common household fruits and vegetables including bananas, apples, pears, mangoes and strawberries are being urged to compost them at home instead of dumping them in the kitchen bin.
HotBinComposting.com says: “Almost all fruits can be composted. From apple cores to banana peels and even the last bits of your strawberries, your compost bin will happily accept them. These organic materials break down, releasing nutrients back into the soil, which can then be used to support plant growth. Remember, it’s not just the flesh of the fruit but also the seeds, stems, and peels that can go into the compost.”
The only things to avoid putting in compost are fruits and veg which are acidic: lemons, grapefruits and onions can be composted but you need to be careful not to add too much and end up with compost with too high an acidity.
The Australian Department of Primary Industries best explains why composting is so much better than putting fruit in your kitchen bin.
They say: “Composting offers an environmentally superior alternative to using organic material for landfill because composting reduces methane production (a major source of greenhouse gas), and provides a series of economic and environmental co-benefits.
“Methane is 26 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Decomposing organic material in anaerobic conditions – by microbes in the absence of oxygen – releases methane into the atmosphere. Anaerobic fermentation is common in landfill and open stockpiles such as manure piles.
“Global emissions from waste have almost doubled since 1970 and now produce 3% of anthropogenic (human origin) emissions (IPCC 2014). About half of these emissions come from the anaerobic fermentation of solid waste disposal on land.”
To get started composting, you can buy ready made food caddies and compost bins from your local council at a discount.