About the league
Food loss and waste drive 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (UNEP, 2024). In US landfills, food makes up about a quarter of the trash but 58% of the methane that escapes (EPA, 2023). Over 20 years, methane traps about 80 times more heat than CO₂. When scraps are composted instead, they become soil.
Compost League makes composting a team sport. Log what you compost, watch your impact add up, earn achievements, and put your neighborhood on the board.
How we count it
Waste diverted
Gallons are converted at about 2.3 lbs per gallon, the EPA's standard weight for food waste (EPA, 2016). Every pound kept out of the landfill counts.
Emissions prevented
Composting a pound of scraps instead of landfilling it avoids about 0.72 lbs of CO₂e. Sending it to a digester for biofuel avoids about 0.6 lbs. We use the EPA's Waste Reduction Model, national averages (EPA WARM v16).
Miles and phone charges
A gas car emits about 0.87 lbs of CO₂e per mile, and a phone charge about 0.027 lbs. So each pound composted is roughly 0.8 miles not driven, or 26 phone charges (EPA equivalencies).
These are estimates. WARM models municipal composting; a backyard pile can do a little better or worse depending on how it's kept. Preventing food waste in the first place beats any bin.
Get in touch
We are in open beta. Feedback, ideas, bugs, worm puns: we want them all.