Compost 2025: EPA Strategies Take Aim at Food Waste, Looking to Boost Composting RatesCompost 2025: EPA Strategies Take Aim at Food Waste, Looking to Boost Composting Rates
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to release several reports and studies that showcase the positive aspects of compost use and community composting. At Compost 2025, Lana Suarez, Associate Manager, Materials Management Branch, US EPA, presented some of the research and resources the EPA is making available.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to release several reports and studies that showcase the positive aspects of compost use and community composting. At Compost 2025, Lana Suarez, Associate Manager, Materials Management Branch, US EPA, presented some of the research and resources the EPA is making available.
One of the steps the EPA has taken to prevent food loss and waste was releasing the National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics earlier this year. The strategy has four main objectives: prevent food loss, prevent food waste, increase recycling rates for organic waste, and support policies focusing on reducing and preventing food loss, waste, and organics recycling. A major talking point from the conference was that about 60 percent of food wasted is going to landfills while only 5 percent is being composted. Suarez says that the EPA sees this as a huge opportunity to educate generators to compost, bringing down that landfill percentage.
The objectives from this study are accompanied by actions from the EPA, USDA, and FDA that will support the U.S. national food loss and prevention goal of reducing food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030. The EPA sees the strategy as a roadmap of action and further displays the Agency’s public commitment to interagency collaboration with the USDA and FDA.
In addition to the study, the EPA has committed to developing and implementing a national consumer education program. This customizable campaign includes informant research on effective messaging for change and learnings from community-level food waste prevention campaigns.
Looking at current and future research from the EPA, the Agency launched the Avoided Landfill Food Waste Methane Emissions Calculator. This calculator allows users to estimate their annual methane emission savings by not sending their food waste to landfills. Users simply input their food waste diverted each year for up to six years and the calculator estimates landfill mapping emissions avoided over 25 years.
Other current and potential future research the EPA is working on includes identifying barriers to composting and compost use, cost of wasted food, PFAS/Plastics contamination, kitchen food waste dehydrators, and sewer methane from food waste.
Suarez’s presentation at Compost 2025 highlighted the agency’s proactive efforts to transform food waste management and promote composting nationwide. By sharing valuable research, actionable strategies, and innovative tools like the Avoided Landfill Food Waste Methane Emissions Calculator, the EPA demonstrated its commitment to driving environmental and public health benefits through composting.
As Suarez emphasized, education and community engagement will be essential to turning today's waste challenges into tomorrow's solutions.
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