Breaking it down: The benefits of composting and how to start

Each year, food-packed landfills in the U.S. produce the same amount of greenhouse emissions as about 20 million cars. Composting can help. 

By William Newlin

This is the final installment of our four-part series on recycling and waste management in Chattanooga. 

Fast facts

• Composting keeps food waste out of landfills and prevents recycling contamination

• Food waste makes up almost a quarter of all the garbage landfilled in the United States

• Food-packed in landfills accounted for 14.5% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 — emissions that could be avoided by composting

• The City of Chattanooga recently ran a pilot program for curbside composting, partnering with local composting company NewTerra

Why compost?

When food waste goes to a landfill, it doesn't get the oxygen and moisture it needs to decompose. 

“A head of lettuce sitting on your countertop is going to break down in a matter of a couple of days,” said Normand Lavoie, the co-founder of the local composting company NewTerra. “But in a landfill it lasts for over 25 years.” 

Instead of decomposing quickly, bacteria that produce the greenhouse gasses carbon dioxide and methane take over. Per the EPA, this landfill gas made up the third-largest source of greenhouse emissions in the United States in 2020, the same amount 20 million cars put out in a year. In contrast, the oxygen-rich environment of a compost pile limits the production of harmful greenhouse gases.

Aside from reducing the size of landfills and lowering emissions, composting at home can make your yard healthier, too. The resulting dark-brown goodness from proper composting acts as a natural fertilizer, making soil richer and more saturated and helping you avoid plant diseases. 

“Between a third and half of every garbage truck you see rolling down the road is filled with organic material that could be composted,” Lavoie said.

How to start composting

To start an eco-friendly compost pile at home, you’ll need three key ingredients: yard waste, food scraps, and moisture. Or as the EPA puts it: browns, greens, and water.

By keeping the amount of browns and greens the same and layering with different-sized waste (twigs vs. grass clipping vs. banana peels, for example), you can start a productive compost pile in your garden or in a store-bought container.

Some commercial containers allow you to spin the compost to increase air flow. But a simple box or pile in your yard works, too. Local composter Jack Shepherd doesn’t mix the compost in his container very often, but he moves it around his garden a couple times a year.

“Tomato vines, okra stalks, bean plants – I put that kind of stuff in there – and then I often put food waste in there,” Shepherd said. “Even though I'm not stirring it and accelerating the decomposition process, they will decompose over time.”

Go here to see what you should and should not include in your compost heap.

Curbside compost? 

San Francisco became the first U.S. city to offer municipal composting in 1996, and now around 200 or more municipalities across the country offer composting services for residents.

The City of Chattanooga ran a small pilot program in the last year, offering 100 participants curbside composting services, in partnership with NewTerra Compost. More than 90 percent of participants in the program reported that if curbside composting were offered on a permanent basis, they could reduce their need for garbage pickup to every other week.

The City has not expanded the pilot, and the City of Chattanooga's Chief Operating Officer Ryan Ewalt said they are still evaluating whether it makes sense to move forward with offering a public composting service.

Local resources and at-home guides

Chattanooga has a couple businesses that allow you to sign up for compost pickup or drop-off. NewTerra Compost takes food waste from individuals, businesses, and restaurants and turns it into soil that goes back into gardens.

Co-founder Lavoie said his company composts more kinds of waste than what the average home composter might be comfortable with, such as bones, dairy products, and paper products saturated with grease. 

“Anything organic that came from the earth and isn't treated with chemicals or plastic can be broken back down into soil,” Lavoie said.

Atlas Organics operates similarly, composting yard and food waste in partnership with Chattanooga’s Crabtree Farms and then returning it to subscribers ready for planting.

If you want to start a pile in your yard, though, check out these guides from Cornell University and the EPA for more in-depth tips on home composting.