Did you know that food scraps make up at least 50% of the garbage picked up at curbside in York? These food scraps go into a landfill or are incinerated. Either disposal method generates high levels of greenhouse gases, including methane and carbon dioxide, the great culprits behind climate change. Faced with the worldwide effects of climate change, such as forest fires, extreme storms, water scarcities, rising sea levels and other hazards that threaten our and our children’s lives and well-being, we have to ask: what can one person do?

There are many answers to that question, but one of the easiest and most immediate personal responses is composting at home. Food scraps are a valuable resource, but we’ve been throwing them away to our trash bins and kitchen sink disposers. The detritus from disposers moves through our sewers and sewage facility strainers and is deposited eventually in a landfill.

But with composting, we can reduce our contributions to landfill volume and incinerated garbage and thus to production of greenhouse gases. Just like the parts of the food we consume, the parts of food we throw away contain important vitamins and minerals that, when returned to the soil, are recycled back into the ecosystem and taken up by the plants and flowers that grow on the land.

In this new year, let’s resolve to reduce our carbon footprint by composting food scraps at home. We can compost in our own backyards, or we can contract with Mr. Fox Composting, a local industrial compost company that turns kitchen scraps into rich soil that is delivered to subscribers in the spring for garden use.

To encourage York residents to start composting, York Ready for Climate Action is offering a free kitchen countertop (or under-the-counter) bin and a roll of liner bags to the first 50 York residents who sign up with Mr. Fox Composting. When full, the smaller liner bags are tied and deposited in a larger bin provided by Mr. Fox.

For $16 a month, Mr. Fox will provide an 8-gallon container to be kept in a garage, basement or outside. This larger container is fitted with an inner liner and a secure easy-access lid; Mr. Fox will empty this container and provide a new liner every other week.

To sign up, go to mrfoxcomposting.com , or call 855-673-6926. The ‘get service’ tab at the top of the page connects to the registration page. To receive the free counter-top bin or with any questions, send an email to [email protected] . Just let us know that you’re registered, and we’ll make sure the free kitchen bin and liners are delivered along with the larger bin.

Let’s do the right thing and take another step to help reduce greenhouse gases. It’s a small personal act that ultimately can make a big difference. And let’s also tell our neighbors about composting.

York Ready for Climate Action is a citizens’ group that advocates for clean, renewable energy. For more information, please see yorkreadyfor100.org or [email protected].