Massachusetts May Force Big Business To Compost

In an effort to help reduce global warming, Massachusetts officials may ban restaurants and other big businesses from dumping food waste in landfills.

According to Scientific American, Americans waste 222 million metric tons of food a year, and when food is dumped in landfills, microbes turn the waste into methane, a greenhouse gas that increases global warming.

This follows a recent study from the University of Edinburgh, which finds that milk poured down the drain in Britain emits 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 20,000 cars.

Massachusetts officials hope that a change in law will push wasted food into composters or biodigesters, where methane can be channeled as fuel. Furthermore, moving food waste into composts will prevent landfills from filling up.