Many communities have laws that require people to recycle paper and plastics. Now some states and local governments have passed laws that require residents to recycle their food waste as well. California and Vermont have statewide laws about recycling food waste that apply to businesses and homes. The process of recycling food waste and turning it into usable soil is called composting. Food waste that can be composted includes fruit and vegetable peels and scraps(废品), coffee grounds, tea bags, and egg shells. Garden waste such as stems and leaves can also be composted. Meat, fish, and dairy food waste cannot be recycled.

According to environmental groups, there are many benefits to recycling food scraps. Composting reduces the amount of trash going into landfills. Composted waste holds a wide range of nutrients. When compost is added to the soil in gardens and fields, it helps crops grow. Reducing the amount of waste that goes into landfills is one reason why cities and states are adopting food-waste recycling laws. “Our landfills are reaching capacity(容纳力) and space for the creation of new ones is shrinking(缩小),” Renee Crowley, a project manager at the Ecology Center in New York City, told TFK.

Officials in Seattle, Washington, say that food waste makes up 30% of the trash going into landfills, and they are looking to reduce that percentage. That city has a law requiring people to recycle food waste. It is banned from all garbage. There is a fine for people who put it into regular garbage.

Critics of mandatory food-recycling laws say that the composting process is costly for communities to maintain. In addition, it can be difficult for people who live in apartments to store their scraps because they don’t have access to outside storage bins. One resident of Orange County, California, Barry, told the local newspaper that she thought an indoor container containing food waste would get “smelly and gross.”