If you’ve ever been to a landfill, you’ll know how disgusting of a place it can be. Now I certainly can’t solve all the world’s problems and I sure even if I came up with the idea it would have a hard time being implemented, if it ever even would. However, here’s a few options that we can all contemplate when it comes to using our food scraps instead of just throwing them away.

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CURRENT “SOLUTION” : LANDFILL

A landfill is basically a hole in the ground where they fill in the hole in the land with garbage until the valley becomes a mountain, and then it is covered again with dirt and allowed to decompose, as much as it can anyway. This is generally where the trash that people take out to the curb winds up after it is picked up by the garbage truck. Old couches, broken dishes, spare pieces from who knows what, and piles of food scraps are all dumped into the pit, with countless other “waste” items.

Options may exist for many of the other items that wind up in the landfill too, but I’ll just deal with the food scraps and waste edibles for the sake of this post.

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BETTER OPTION #1 : WORM FARM

A worm farm is a simple way to convert a lot of scrap and waste food into something useful. Some people will choose to have large operations, selling both the worm castings and excess worms for profit, but it can be as simple as having a single bucket or plastic tote.

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WORM FARM IN 5 GALLON BUCKET

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Basically, the worms inside the tote will eat the scraps and use them as a food source. As the worms digest and process the scraps, they’ll make “worm castings”, which are nothing more than the poop of the worms. However, this manure is a great fertilizer and can even be sold. Also, as the worms multiply and reproduce, you can either start another worm farm, use the worms for fishing, release them into the garden, or sell them to others for worm farms or fishing bait.

Simply put, rather than having the “waste” food be wasted, a beneficial relationship is established which can make the scraps quite useful.

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BETTER OPTION #2 : COMPOST

Compost is usually made in either a pile or a barrel. Basically, organic material is added and mixed into the pile and allowed to decompose, leaving a rich soil amendment behind. The potential “ingredients” for compost include fall leaves, grass clippings, wood chips, sawdust, and food scraps.

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OLD GARBAGE CAN CONVERTED INTO COMPOST FACTORY

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Many food items that would otherwise be wasted can easily be thrown in a designated heap, mixed in with some other organic material, and allowed to break down. I think we’ll always be making compost since it just makes sense. Composting is another easy way to get some beneficial use out of what commonly is thought of as garbage; your various pieces of waste food.

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BETTER OPTION #3 : ANIMALS

Many animals will gladly eat your leftovers and spoiled dishes. (Ever have a dog?) I’ll use pigs as my example, though other animals can work as well. Pigs need to eat, and eventually you can eat them, if you desire. Food that could easily be thrown in the garbage can just as easily be thrown in the pigs. Some people have said that pigs will eat just about anything except for a bowling ball.

Just because an animal can and will eat something doesn’t mean that it should. However, there are plenty of safe options for animals like pigs to enjoy that we make as waste food on almost a daily basis. This works out great for multiple reasons. First, pigs need food. Second, pig owners will have to buy food for the pigs. Third, the more food scraps a pig eats, the less pig food the owner will have to buy.

If I could represent the value of this process in a single sentence, it would read like this:

Food that would otherwise be wasted can be fed to pigs, which can be eaten as food.

The process of turning “wasted” food into “usable” food is a very simple process when a pig is involved.

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PIG PICTURE GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY @brianmarriott

Thank you for your assistance kind Sir.

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CONCLUSION

Though not everyone can keep some pigs, most people could try having a worm farm or compost pile. Worm farms can even work in an apartment. All of these options are more beneficial for us, the earth, and the animals than just dumping our waste food into a giant hole in the ground with all sorts of other "trash". I’m sure that other options exist as well, so feel free to reply with your comments or suggestions below, and thanks for reading. - @papa-pepper

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