Usually, as I watch my unfinished plate of pastabilities slide down the Usdan conveyer belt and out of sight, it also travels out of mind. Often, the end location of my overambitious sampling from the vegan bar is the last thing on my mind. However, in an era of numerous environmental issues, maybe we should all pay more attention to what happens to our food scraps once they leave our plates. Composting is an excellent way to divert food waste from landfills, but is unfortunately underutilized across Connecticut. Although campus groups have done a great job of bringing composting to Wesleyan, new regulations by the state of Connecticut could make it much easier for large-scale composting to take place.

Composting not only reduces waste in landfills and incinerators, but when done properly, also has little negative environmental impact. Food waste that goes to a landfill decomposes in the absence of oxygen and therefore produces methane gas, which contributes to global warming. The same waste transformed into compost (which is exposed to oxygen when it is mixed and aerated) can be used to fight erosion and to enrich soil in which to grow plants. At Wesleyan, the Environmental Organizers Network and the Food Salvage Program do an excellent job working with Bon Appetit to compost food scraps and donate uneaten food to Eddy Shelter in Middletown. However, their jobs could be made easier and Wesleyan as a whole could become more compost friendly if Connecticut developed the regulations and resources necessary to bring easy composting to all homes and businesses.

At home in San Francisco, I compost without even thinking about it. Food waste goes into the green bin and is then conveniently picked up from outside my house once a week. The compost produced by the city is then sold to California farms and vineyards. The whole set-up seems so picture perfect one might almost expect helpful singing animals to be the ones picking up the compost, but in reality, a lot of infrastructure is required to transform my banana peel into grapevine-nurturing compost. California law requires 75 percent of solid waste to be averted from landfills by the year 2020, and in San Francisco, composting is the law—those who do not comply can be fined. In addition, the state could not successfully compost without its composting facilities, waste management employees, and consumer education programs, all of which require funding.

As of 2009, Connecticut reported a home composting rate of only 1.18 percent of all solid waste produced. Combined with its organic material recycling rate of 8.4 percent, which encompasses predominantly yard waste, Connecticut still composts less than 10 percent of its total solid waste and almost none of its citizens’ food scraps.

The state missed its goal of reducing or recycling 40 percent of all solid waste by the year 2000, and is currently striving to divert 58 percent of waste from landfills by the year 2024. Although the state’s Department of Environmental Protection has recognized that food scrap composting is crucial to reaching this goal, it needs support from the state in the form of funding and regulations.

Connecticut’s newest composting law, which came into effect on Oct. 1 of this year, is a good start to a new era of compost legislation. It requires that all businesses which create over 104 tons of food waste a year compost it at a facility within 20 miles of them.

However, if this program could be extended to private homes and smaller businesses, it could have an even greater impact. With some compost facilities already in action and more required to facilitate this new law, Connecticut should use this opportunity to make composting more comprehensive and accessible. I can’t personally save the polar bears, halt global warming, or prevent offshore drilling, but, given the opportunity, I can definitely throw an apple core into a more environmentally friendly bin.