Compost your food waste
It's easy, free and natural. It helps wiggly worms to thrive, flowers to blossom and nutritious veg to grow. Composting your food waste can save almost 150 kg CO2 over the course of a year through a reduction in greenhouse gas emitted from landfill sites.1
Pledge to start composting your food waste - there are even indoor solutions if you don't have outdoor space!
Climate change
When sent to landfill, kitchen and garden waste (organic waste) rots anaerobically. This produces methane gas, a greenhouse gas that is about 30% more potent than CO2.2
However, when composted above ground, organic waste decomposes with oxygen, producing a less destructive and more useful output.
Compost made from organic waste is also much more climate-friendly than commercially produced peat-based compost, which currently makes up 55% of compost sold.3 Peat bogs, where peat-based compost originates, play a crucial role in storing carbon.4 When this peatland is mined, the carbon is unlocked, and produces up to 400 tonnes of CO2 every year.5
So by making your own compost you’re definitely onto a winner, whichever way you look at it.
Landfill
It's funny to think of landfill sites as a precious resource, but they're filling up so quickly we could soon struggle to find space to bury our ever-growing mountains of waste.
Biodiversity
This bit's obvious: compost helps things to grow. It improves the health of your plants while reducing the need for water and artificial fertilisers. Compost heaps themselves are a great way to attract wildlife, worms, slugs, hedgehogs, birds, lizards, the lot! 5
What’s more, by avoiding peat-based compost from shops, you’re protecting rich and diverse habitats, home to rare and protected plants and animals.
49%
Money
With landfill taxes on the up and council budgets going down, composting your organic waste is a great way to help your council save money for the things that really need it.
A bag of compost isn’t cheap, so by making your own you could treat yourself to a few extra seeds next winter.
The Global Goals
In September 2017, an historic agreement was signed by UN member nations agreeing to work towards 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development by 2030, otherwise known as the SDGs.
Achieving these ambitious goals will require action from governments, businesses, NGOs, and individuals alike. We can - and must - all play our part.
By making the Feed the earth pledge, you are contributing to the following SDG targets:
12.3: By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.
12.8: By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature.
13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
Success Stories
1,526
Pledges
in total
18,683kg
CO2
pledged