I always assumed that using the garbage disposal was the greenest way to deal with my organic waste matter: it decreased the amount in the trash can, so I thought I was doing the right thing.
Turns out, this is a little more complicated: by pureeing organic waste and sending it down the pipes, I'm creating water that needs to be filtered and treated at a water treatment plant. Putting my organic waste in the trash sends it to the landfill, where it will (theoretically) decompose, but can actually cause increased methane emissions.
Ideally, we would all compost, but that may not be an option for apartment or condo dwellers. However, there are options that can be used to compost indoors (which I will offer with the caveat that the friends who tried this seemed to have a semi-regular fruit-fly issue), and some cities are starting to offer curbside compost services (NYC, St. Paul, Cambridge, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco, among others).
Want to learn more about how your waste is processed? Some cities offer tours of their water treatment plants, in New York City you can even take a Valentine's day tour.
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