Diverting food waste away from landfills and towards proper recycling methods could have a drastic impact on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, a Penn State University study has found.
It’s estimated that almost a third of the food produced for human consumption is ultimately lost as waste – much of it goes to landfill, which results in harmful methane emissions and the loss of critical resources that could be repurposed for agriculture.
The Penn State study assessed three food waste recycling methods for their environmental impact: composting, which breaks down organic waste while conserving valuable nutrients; anaerobic digestion, the process by which organic material is broken down and produces a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide known as biogas, which can be used as a renewable energy source; and refeed, which repurposes suitable food waste into animal feed.
The researchers ultimately wanted to understand the impact of the different processes on life-cycle greenhouse gas...