Around the world, most of the 1.4 billion tons of food thrown away each year goes to landfills. As it rots, it pollutes water and soil and releases huge amounts of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases.

全球每年浪费的约14亿吨食品大多数都被送往填埋场。这些食品腐烂会污染水和土壤，并释放大量甲烷等温室气体。

But not in South Korea, which banned food scraps from its landfills almost 20 years ago. Here, the vast majority of it gets turned into animal feed, fertilizer and fuel for heating homes.

但在韩国却不是这样，韩国在近20年前就禁止食物残渣进入垃圾填埋场。在这里，绝大多数食物残渣被转化为动物饲料、肥料和家庭取暖的燃料。

Food waste is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, not only because of the methane but also because the energy and resources that went into its production and transport have been wasted, too.

食物浪费是导致气候变化的最大因素之一，不仅是因为甲烷，还因为用于生产和运输的能源和资源浪费。

The system in South Korea, which keeps about 90 percent of discarded food out of landfills and incinerators, has been studied by governments around the world. Officials from China, Denmark and elsewhere have toured South Korea’s facilities. New York City, which will require all residents to separate their food waste from other trash by next fall, has been observing the Korean system for years, a spokesman for the city’s sanitation department said.

韩国的这一做法让大约90%的废弃食品免于进入垃圾填埋场和焚化炉，已经得到了世界各国政府的研究。来自中国、丹麦和其他国家的官员参观了韩国的设施。纽约市卫生部门的一位发言人说，纽约市多年来一直在观察韩国的做法。该市将要求所有居民在明年秋天之前将食物垃圾与其他垃圾分开处理。

While a number of cities have comparable programs, few if any other countries do what South Korea does on a national scale. That is because of the cost, said Paul West, a senior scientist with Project Drawdown, a research group that studies ways to reduce carbon emissions. Although individuals and businesses pay a small fee to discard food waste, the program costs South Korea about $600 million a year, according to the country’s Ministry of Environment.

虽然许多城市都有类似的项目，但几乎没有其他国家在全国范围内像韩国那样做。研究减少碳排放方法的研究组织Project Drawdown的资深科学家保罗·韦斯特(Paul West)说，这是因为成本问题。据韩国环境部(Ministry of Environment)称，尽管个人和企业支付少量费用来处理食物垃圾，但该项目每年仍要花费韩国约6亿美元。

Nonetheless, Mr. West and other experts say it should be emulated. “The South Korea example makes it possible to reduce emissions at a larger scale,” he said.

尽管如此，韦斯特和其他专家表示，应该效仿这种做法。“韩国的例子使更大规模的减排成为可能。”他说。