Laughter has died down and the table slowly gets more quiet as diners head their different ways. It has been another successful dinner together, so you gather up the leftover food and place it in separate containers. A few weeks later, you find what used to be a delicious side dish now looking a little more like a dangerous mush. It's time for disposal, but what is the best thing to do with your old food?

Unless you live on a farm, you typically have 4 options. We will look at each one from least to best:

Commentary:

Though very underused and we are grateful for that, you can pack up your old organic refuse and take it to a concert, play or sporting event. Hurl your garbage at any point to communicate that you are displeased with the proceedings. Yes, they used it in the old days, which always made me wonder how you would feel packing that on your trip to an event. Stinky.

Garbage Can:

You can chuck your food in the trash, but be advised that your local dump is a sealed system so that the trash juice, or leachate, doesn't leak, that means that our food can't decompose back into the soil.

Garbage Disposal:

Surprisingly, the soft stuff that your sink disposal can handle can arguably be processed better in the sewer system because many of the plants are able to use methane, a biproduct of your decomposing food, as a fuel.

Compost:

Hands down the best idea for your food waste is composting. The ability to set aside your organics and then add them to a compost pile is the easiest on all systems. Some areas where we have lived had a community compost so you might look around for one of those.