According to the U.S. EPA, 44.8 million tons of food scraps and yard waste reach our landfills each year - all of which could potentially be collected and reused through composting or mulching programs.

The EPA's statistics show that each American throws away an average of 1.3 pounds of food scraps daily – translating to almost 13 percent of the nation’s municipal solid waste (MSW) stream. Additionally, when including yard waste, 24 percent of our MSW is organic material that can be composted. *  

According to the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC), only 8 percent of Americans currently compost their waste, including residents in cities like San Francisco and Seattle, where composting is part of the general waste pickup. While composting is on the rise, it still has a long way to go in terms of reaching the level of popularity of other sustainable activities. Products that are compostable are also increasing in availability, but their reviews have been mixed. Confusion and questions about what to do with these products are sometimes stopping points for consumers, especially the requirement that most compostable products have to go to a commercial facility. 

 * Composting is the natural process of decomposition, sped up by a deliberate strategy in a concentrated environment to transform ingredients such as grass clippings, vegetable scraps, newspaper and more into a new material that can then be incorporated back into the soil. In the environment of a compost pile – which is typically around 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) and 90 percent relative humidity – microbes, heat and water all work together in a balanced fashion to decompose organic materials into a nutritious soil amendment.