Benefits of Composting Food Scraps in Chicago
Think about how much food waste your household generates. Now think about how much waste must be generated by the 2.7 million people who call Chicago home. Cutting down on the amount of food scraps that end up in the trash is an important part of Chicago’s waste reduction goal: to divert 90% of its waste from landfills by 2030. Reducing waste can also create potential long-term savings for the city, as garbage trucks pick up less trash and the city incurs fewer processing costs.
Everyone can play a role in preventing food waste by purchasing, preparing, and consuming food more mindfully. Composting is another key part of the solution to our food waste problem. When we compost, microorganisms naturally break down food scraps into a rich soil amendment. This material can be used to enhance soil and support plant growth.
Why Composting Food Scraps Matters
The term “food scraps” refers to all wasted food. That includes your leftover broccoli, the piece of pie you never got to, and the strawberries that went bad before you ate them. Most of these food scraps end up in the trash, then are sent on to the landfill. Illinois landfills 19 million tons of waste each year; 20% of that is food waste, accounting for Illinois’s largest waste stream.
Food waste is a problem across our country. One-third of the food produced in the United States is never eaten. Calorie-wise, that’s enough food to feed more than 150 million people each year. Most of those food scraps end up in landfills, where they take up valuable space and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
Composting is one way to limit the amount of food scraps that end up in a landfill. Limiting consumption is another. We can all take action to reduce how much food goes uneaten. Plan meals, make a detailed shopping list, be mindful about consuming the food you purchase, and keep track of expiration dates. You can also create an “eat first” shelf in your fridge to remind the whole household which food items to eat before they go bad. Here’s a helpful tool for minimizing your food waste.
Environmental Benefits of Composting Food Scraps
Composting has significant environmental benefits. When we compost, we decrease the amount of material sent to landfills, which have finite space for all the waste generated each day.
Composting also reduces methane emissions. There is little oxygen in a landfill. That means that organic material, like food, experiences aerobic decomposition, producing methane, a harmful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Food waste is to blame for 58% of landfill emissions. Composting is an important way we can take action locally to help fight the negative impacts of climate change.
Soil and Ecosystem Benefits
There’s a reason compost is often called “black gold.” It has powerful benefits for soil and ecosystems.
For one, it helps prevent erosion. The top three feet of soil contains more than 3X as much carbon as the atmosphere. That’s one reason why erosion is problematic — it releases carbon into the air. Using compost increases soil carbon sequestration, which controls the amount of greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere.
Compost also creates nutrient-rich soil that plants love. So do farmers. Dark in color and dense with nutrients, compost has superpower-like abilities to improve soil quality. Compost works like a natural fertilizer and encourages plant growth by controlling pH levels, providing protection against soil-borne diseases, and helping soil retain moisture. According to the Illinois Food Scrap & Composting Coalition, for every 1% of organic matter, compost increases water storage capacity by 16,000 gallons per acre-foot — preventing evaporation and runoff.
Composting at home can provide you with nutrient-rich material for a garden or small vegetable plot. No need to run to the home and garden store!
How to Start Composting Food Scraps
Now that you’ve learned the benefits, are you ready to get started with composting? We’ve put together a guide to help you begin composting, either at home, through the city’s public Food Scrap Drop-off Program, or through one of Chicago’s private composting services. Take a look and help Chicago reap the benefits of composting!
Updated February 2026
