In the city of Wauwatosa, many local and chain businesses throw out bins upon bins of food on a daily basis. Most of this food that is being thrown out is still perfectly edible, but these businesses are not able to use them the next day, therefore they are sent to the dumpster. According to Feeding America, 147,430 individuals in Milwaukee County are food insecure, which is about 15.4% of the county's population. Why is so much food getting wasted, when there are thousands of people going hungry every day in this city? These businesses aren't fully to blame, throwing away food is easy, finding ways to save it is a hassle. “According to the DNR’s 2020-2021 Statewide Waste Characterization Study, food waste make up 20% of trash headed to our landfills, an amount that has more than doubled since the last study in 2009. Most of this food waste, 14.5%, could have been consumed”(Hiorns). Not only is all this edible food being tossed when there are people starving in the streets, when food waste is sent to landfills, it breaks down and releases a substantial amount of methane into the atmosphere.
--

This petition is to build support to implement a policy in Wauwatosa that provides free compost for every resident and enforces composting for businesses. Wauwatosa currently does have free composting for residents but they have to request it from the city. This policy would make it so all residents are provided with a compost bin just as they would a recycling and trash bin.