As the world struggles with ever-worsening climate change, there is some environmental good news!
Composting is a simple solution that can fight greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, improve soil health, and reduce waste in landfills. Cities like Vancouver, Montreal, New York, San Francisco, and Boston are using it to help the Earth and make residents' lives better.
But in the European Union (EU), many cities still don't have proper, easy-to-access composting bins for all residents. That needs to change! Sign the petition to demand that the EU fully enforce its composting and bio-waste regulations!Researchers estimate that the EU produces around 118 to 138 million tons of bio-waste every year, with only around 40% being composted or otherwise recycled. Options for composting vary from city to city, and in some places, it is extremely difficult to figure out how to responsibly dispose of food waste.
Luckily, the EU is trying to tackle this. Through its Waste Framework Directive, in Article 22, it mandated that member states must separately collect bio-waste (for example, compostable items), and keep them apart from other types of waste (such as recycling and textiles). However, two years later, it's clear that this directive hasn't been fully implemented.
In fact, in 2024, the organizations Zero Waste Europe and Bio-based Industries Consortium investigated EU kitchen-based waste and found that a shocking 74% (or around 45 million tons of food waste) was still being incinerated or sent to landfills! In other cities, like Amsterdam, simply searching the government websites for composting drop-off points quickly demonstrates that there are limited options for residents to use. This is a clear violation of the Directive.
Without composting, food waste builds up in ever-growing landfills, which hurt the communities nearby. Landfills are often located in poorer neighborhoods - or trash is shipped overseas, to less-wealthy countries, where rich people's trash sits and rots. That is deeply irresponsible and just plain wrong. There isn't any good reason to ignore the power and simplicity of composting. If we want to fight greenhouse gas emissions and improve soil health, we need to have easy ways to compost!
The EU has repeatedly stated that it wants to prioritize the environment and tackle climate change. So it must enforce its Waste Management Directive. Sign the petition now!