Tag Archives: Waste Not Want Not

As an underground fire encroaches on nuclear material in St. Louis’ Bridgeton landfill, another half-eaten meal winds up in the trashcan. Food is the largest single category of municipal waste. As it rots underground, it generates flammable methane gas. When the gas ignites, the the resulting smolder is difficult to extinguish or contain. In Bridgeton it has been burning for five years, slowly creeping towards a large deposit of nuclear waste. The world produces about four billion tons of food every year, and nearly a third of it is wasted. The resources used to produce that food are also wasted, …