Where will it all end?

The next step of the produce decomposition in landfills is even uglier. As the microbial decomposition progresses it eventually runs out of the oxygen needed to sustain the microbes working on the decaying produce. When the environment around the produce goes anaerobic the microbes that then take over the task of decomposing the produce must employ different biological processes to derive the energy that sustains them. Those processes generates carbon dioxide, like the aerobic microbes do, but also generates methane gas. Both are green house gases, but methane, is 21 times more effective. The methane generated by the produce that has gone anaerobic, after the CO2 producing aerobic decomposition, following a 1,500 CO2 producing mile journey, including aggravating your CO2 enhanced traffic wait, is going into the atmosphere – all for the want of the Ethylene Gas Guardian.

Although the produce that is wasted may have hit the end of the road, the story has not. More on that later. But, the story that began as a fit of pique while sitting in traffic demonstrates how far reaching the impact of our most casual actions can be. Eat your produce, limit how much you throw away and put an end to this cycle of atmospheric violence! Lucky for you, the E.G.G. is there to help.

And still more carbon dioxide

Beyond the problem of the CO2 generated in the transportation of fresh produce to landfills 1,500 miles from where it was grown, is what happens when the transported produce reaches the landfill. I have seen estimates that 12% of the total weight of landfill intake is food wastes, mostly (un)fresh produce. Once the produce wastes are in the landfill it becomes food for the microbes that do that sort of thing for a living. As they digest the produce, CO2, water and humus are the primary by products of this microbiological process. There we go again, releasing CO2 instead of having a big old salad.

The humus contains a host of nutrients that serve as the basis for the regeneration of new plant life. Good, but not as good as the lettuce would have been if it had been stored with the E.G.G. – and been used for its intended purpose – your table.