Context
Food breaks down via anaerobic digestion in landfills, resulting in the production of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Any diversion of food scraps from the landfill to a recycling facility or beneficial reuse results in the avoidance of methane production.
Due to it being easier to put food scraps into the Mill than the trash, there is additional diversion in most households - even those who were composting some portion of their food scraps before getting Mill (because with Mill, closer to 100% of in-home food scraps can be diverted).
This behavior change-driven emissions avoidance is the top driver in Mill’s carbon calculations, for the average household who adopts Mill.
Recognizing that not all Mill customers had the same behavior before Mill, and with Mill, there will be variability in the actual carbon avoidance realized by any given household.
Two Examples:
- If a household sent most of their food scraps to the landfill before Mill, then they will likely realize a net carbon avoidance resulting from avoided methane production (being greater than Mill’s operations - bin manufacture and use, shipping and upcycling Food Grounds).
- If the household also sends their Food Grounds to Mill to be turned into a chicken feed ingredient, there is additional avoidance from the displacement of a conventional feed ingredient.
- If a household very diligently composted all food scraps before getting Mill, getting the Mill doesn’t result in carbon avoidance (if the Food Grounds are composted), but can result in an increased diversion of food from landfills.
- If this same household got Mill and sent Food Grounds for the conversion into a chicken feed ingredient, there would be some avoidance from the displacement of a conventional feed ingredient, but this may not exceed the additional emissions from Mill’s operations.
Learn more about Mill's climate impact at mill.com/LCA.