Compost Food Scraps
Climate Action Counts is a statewide effort mobilizing Californians to take everyday climate actions at home and in their neighborhoods. Take the pledge and join others in tackling climate change through actions like composting food scraps!
Toss in your green bin or compost in your yard.
Composting promotes climate resilience. All it takes is meal planning and a few seconds after each meal. Instead of throwing those scraps in the garbage, toss veggie peels, coffee grounds, eggshells and other scraps into your green bin or compost pile. By composting, you’re turning waste into nutrient rich soil that can help gardens grow while keeping harmful gases out of our atmosphere.
Did You Know?
Percent
Percent of global greenhouse gas emissions our food loss and waste make up
Billion
Pounds of food Americans waste each year, nearly five times the emissions of the entire aviation industry!
Percent
California landfills filled with wasted food
Tons
Amount of food waste Californians throw away annually, about 30-40% of the food supply
Dollars
Amount of money a year the average family wastes on food they throw away
Percent
How much of our trash is food and other organic waste
Partner Spotlights
CalRecycle is proud to join Governor Gavin Newsom and California Volunteers to lead the nation with simple steps for a healthier climate, with nearly every community now collecting food scraps for recycling and rescuing unsold food for neighbors in need. California is showing how small actions today add up to a big impact for our climate.”
— CalRecycle Director Zoe Heller
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As California navigates the climate crisis and mounting plastic pollution in our communities and ocean, CalRecycle is rolling out programs to cut landfill climate pollution and reduce the flow of single-use plastic. Partnering with the state’s diverse communities, industries and advocacy organizations, we’re reimagining systems to make it easier and more convenient for Californians to reuse all materials. Together, we’re keeping food and yard waste out of landfills to cut a top source of climate pollution while creating new products like compost — a super food for the soil that holds more water, nourishes more crops and pulls planet-heating carbon from the atmosphere.
Angelenos know that Climate Action Counts. Last year, more than 20,000 neighbors worked with LA Compost to turn everyday food scraps into healthy soil. That momentum proves caring for the environment doesn’t have to be complicated or costly. One simple action, taken together, adds up. Community composting is a small but powerful practice that connects us to the soil, to our neighbors and to a healthier Los Angeles.”
— Ryan Jackson, Executive Director, LA Compost
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LA Compost is a community-based nonprofit turning local food scraps into healthy soils that strengthen the environment, our neighborhoods and the regional food system. Since 2013, we’ve established 50-plus community composting sites in gardens, parks, schools and churches. This approach improves soil health, avoids climate emissions and brings communities together around a shared understanding that local action has a global impact. In 2024, our network diverted more than 4 million pounds of food scraps — and the movement keeps growing.
