FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – The little bits of food you toss across southeast Michigan with the trash are creating a bigger problem than you might think.
“The State of Michigan landfills about two billion pounds of food every year, with most waste occurring in Southeast Michigan,” said Danielle Todd, Executive Director of Make Food Not Waste.
Todd is piloting a program aimed at helping some of those communities tackle the problem by creating compost solutions for residents.
Farmington Hills, Livonia, Westland, Canton, Southfield, Ferndale, and Dearborn have either created solutions or are in the process of gathering feedback from residents.
We visited Farmington Hills to discuss the survey they’ve sent out to residents and businesses.
“Similar to how people think of reduce, reuse, recycle, food waste is kind of the same thing. Can we capture food waste? Can we compost it in other ways to keep it out of the landfill?” said Jacob Rushlow, Farmington Hills Director of Public Services.
So what’s the big deal? Why should we separate food scraps from the rest of the trash?
“When food decomposes in a landfill it releases methane which is one of the most harmful greenhouse gases, and because we landfill so much food, in fact in Michigan our landfills are about makeup of 30% just food, that’s producing hundreds of thousands of methane every year,” said Todd who added for every pound of food kept out of a landfill means one less pound of methane gas in the atmosphere.
The Michigan Healthy Climate Plan aims to reduce food waste in landfills by 50% by 2030.
Farmington Hills has set its sights on reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2050.
Once the survey results are in, the city will begin to explore options such as compost drop-off locations and perhaps even curbside pickup.
Farmington Hills residents can click here to find a link to the survey.