In nature, plants extract nutrients from the soil to fuel their growth and, if not consumed, decompose into simpler forms of matter (for example, CO2 and soil nutrients), which become energy for the next generation of growing plants. As such, natural organic processes provide a “closed-loop” system of energy and nutrient cycles.
In contrast, in the food industry, waste is abundant. Government studies show that over 40% of the food produced in the U.S. goes to waste, and traditional waste-disposal practices bury over 90% of this waste in landfills, which in turn releases methane, which is more harmful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. This “cradle-to-grave” system has over-taxed local landfills and has resulted in a growing movement to ban food waste from landfills. In addition, increased disposal site distances, combined with rising energy prices, make transporting waste a costly proposition. This system of waste disposal has also encouraged farmers to purchase increasingly expensive and environmentally harmful chemicals in order to replace soil nutrients lost due to industrial farming practices. The result is an “open-loop” system that does not properly value or recover waste.