Earth Angel's E-Newsletter
Current Earth Angel newsletter:- June 2009 (pdf to be added)
Earth Angel Newsletter - June 2009
In this issue:
What happens to food waste when it goes to landfill?
Hello - Thank you for being a friend of Earth Angel and welcome to our June Newsletter. We recently met many of you at either - Bizzone in Auckland, Eco Expo in Christchurch or 7th Migrant Expo in Auckland. We greatly enjoyed attending these expo’s to chat and sell our fantastic products.
Earth Angel congratulates the winners at each Expo – they are:
- Bizzone Winner – Barbara Lowe from Listers Transport
- Eco Expo Winner – Rachel Stracey
- Migrant Expo Winner – Norah Wong
Part One of the Survey asked what people do with their food scraps – not a lot of people are aware of the effects of throwing out or insinkerating food scraps so we thought we should explain.
What happens when food waste goes to landfill?
Food waste and Garden waste (Organic material) make up around 40 to 44% of our waste sent and packed into landfill each year (this includes food waste that is insinkerated as this is screened out and sent to landfill). Food waste decomposes very fast in landfill under anaerobic conditions (without oxygen) and turns into methane gas. Methane is a greenhouse gas with 23 times the heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide (CO2) this traps the heat within the Earth’s atmosphere leading to global warming. Landfills are the largest source of human created methane. Methane is quickly released into the atmosphere – it can take between 28 and 100 days for landfill food scraps to be released. Organic materials also contribute to landfill leachate which can contaminate groundwater systems.
The Good News = Composting/worm farms/green cones etc do not form methane gas as the waste material has access to the air which prevents methane from forming.
How to deal with Food Scraps:
- At home or the office separate your organic waste from other recyclables (paper, metals and plastic) – try out handy desk top bins and start a form of Composting, Worm Farm or Bokashi.
- Have a Food Waste Bin in your office kitchen and find out who has a composting or worm farm system at home and share the responsibilities of taking home the food waste.
- If you set up a system at work share the empting and share the benefits of either the worm tea or taking home the bokashi bin to bury in your garden.
- If you don’t have space at work, consider subsidising or encouraging your staff into something of their choice at home. Earth Angel will discuss bulk discounting.
- If you live in an apartment building lobby your Body Corporate for ways to deal with your food waste.
- Don’t overbuy - Consider only buying what you need instead of bulk buying because of a sale. If you over buy food that spoils quickly and it doesn’t get used its only going to be thrown out.
- Consider Zero waste events – (we will discuss in another newsletter)
- Discuss options with your staff, family and friends
- Contact Earth Angel about the options, prices or further information
- Choose a system and implement its use
One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.
Quote - John F Kennedy.
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Thank you.
Best wishes
The Earth Angel Team