Not all waste is created equal!

13,292 heads of lettuce

That’s the equivalent of how many heads of lettuce we’ve thrown out this semester – you’ll be amazed how long that takes to decompose!

Hey, it's Albi! 

Over the last few weeks, we've been teaching you all about the impacts of food waste and how much waste we have here at Bonnies. 

But some of you may still be wondering, why is food waste actually bad for the planet?

The Landfill Problem

When food is thrown away and sent to a landfill, it doesn’t break down like it would in nature. The lack of oxygen causes it to decompose reaaalllyyyy slowly, releasing methane—a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than CO2 in the short term. 

Did you know that a single head of lettuce can take 25 years to decompose in a landfill?!

To put that into context, at Bonnies, we’ve already wasted the equivalent of 13,292 heads of lettuce this semester alone! That’s a whole lot of methane!

Okay, so if we're composting, we can throw out what we want...right?

If only it were that simple 😭 

While composting is definitely better than landfill, there's still a whole load of resources that are being used up in growing, harvesting, transporting, prepping, and cooking the food that we throw out! 

That's why the EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy rates preventing waste as the #1 tool for tackling the sustainability challenges of food waste — way higher than composting!

Small Actions, BIG Impact

Every meal we eat at Hickey is a chance to make a difference. By being mindful of what we take and only grabbing what we know we’ll eat, we can tackle waste at the source. 

If everyone at Bonnies reduced their waste by just a few bites per meal, the impact over the semester would be huge! Small changes add up fast—let’s keep working together to make a big difference. 

Thanks for being part of the movement!

Best,

The Albi Team