It’s inconvenient and it can occasionally be gross. And yet…. we’re asked to sort our organics into a different cart.

Why?

Well, for one thing, if it’s sorted well with no plastic, it makes amazing compost, whether or not you do it yourself or use the green cart.

Honestly, that nice but it’s not why it’s important.

They why actually has nothing to do with what happens when you put food into your green cart. It’s what happens when you don’t.

Let’s say you throw the contents of your fridge clean out into the garbage and it goes to the landfill which is a massive garbage lasagna built of layers of garbage and dirt.

Eventually, the peas, broccoli and chicken carcass start to decompose and release all of the water it contains. The water trickles down through all of the layers of the landfill. It picks up all kinds of stuff. Dirt. More water. All kinds of particles, debris and chemicals.

By the time it reaches the bottom floor, it’s not even water anymore. It’s become a toxic kind of tea called leachate.

It’s made by water that goes through solid waste (garbage). This includes rain and snow but we’ll look at food as it’s an entirely preventable water source.

As careful as we are building leak-proof landfills, no-one wants to take chances of this grossness getting out into the environment at large. It’s extracted and treated beforehand.

What does this mean for us?

Hands down, the most important reason is the risk of leaks. It terrifies me to think what will happen if there’s a leak. I don’t know, don’t want to know. I just don’t want it to happen.

It also drives up our waste bill.

Sorting our organics won’t make leachate disappear (precipitation will still make some of it). Sorting absolutely lessens the amount of leachate produced and I consider that a major win.

If you think of any waste questions, let me know using the Ask A Question Link above or below.

Likewise, I’m constantly expanding the resources available on this page, so if you think of anything let me know!

Have a great day!

L