Enacts the state and local government food waste prevention and diversion act

Section two of the bill amends article 27 of the environmental conservation law by adding a new title 28 which would require that covered food service establishments manage their excess unused food, food scraps, and organic waste by first minimizing their generation, and then diverting them from disposal by a series of options. After minimizing generation, the highest waste prevention and diversion priority would be donation of excess wholesome food to programs feeding people, especially the food insecure. Other options include providing food and food scraps as animal feed, and processing remaining organics into soil amendment or other useful products through composting, anaerobic digestion, and other value-adding methods.

Covered food service establishments would be those operated by State agencies, departments, boards, public benefit corporations, public authorities, or commissions, municipalities, local education agencies, or their contractors or lessees, that prepare and provide food directly to consumers, and that generate, from food preparation and service as averaged over the course of the previous ten weeks: beginning in 2016, over two thousand pounds of food waste per week; beginning in 2018, over one thousand pounds of food waste per week; and beginning in 2020, over five hundred pounds of food waste per week.

If the cost to comply with any portion of the food waste prevention and diversion priorities outlined above is excessive, this section also provides a process by which a covered food service establishment may be granted a temporary waiver from complying with that portion.

Additionally, section two of the bill requires the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to promote the actions that covered food service establishments are required to take, and to encourage the public to better manage excess food, food scraps, and organic waste as well. Toward this end, the DEC is authorized to collect and report information to promote improved food and organic waste prevention and diversion.

Section three of the bill requires that local solid waste management plans include information on current food and organic waste management efforts and their capacity in the respective area of the planning unit.

Section four of the bill establishes the effective date.

Justification

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, food waste comprises approximately 14 percent of the municipal solid waste generated each year in the United States, or about 34 million tons. A 2005 University of Arizona study found that about 20 million tons of that was generated at full service and fast-food restaurants.

Every day, food service providers such as hospitals, universities, cafeterias, restaurants, and food preparation companies must address what to do with surplus or leftover food and other organic waste generated in their operations. This includes food waste, food scraps, prepared foods, produce, bakery and dairy items, meat, and other organics. There are many ways food service providers can reduce waste, reduce costs, improve the environment, provide benefits to communities, and otherwise realize savings by reducing, reusing, and recycling uneaten or unused food and other discarded organic materials rather than sending them to landfills.

New York State's Solid Waste Management Plan, entitled "Beyond Waste" published in December 2010, included a programmatic recommendation for the state to "lead by example" by demonstrating sustainable materials management within its own operations, specifically indicating organics recovery as a major component. This bill would require that certain facilities operated by state agencies, counties, municipalities, local education agencies, or their contractors recover excess foods and other organics residuals to the greatest extent practicable. In doing so, covered facilities would prevent waste and divert discarded organics from landfills, thereby conserving resources and providing models for other facilities and organizations to establish their own effective means of sustainable operation and organic waste management.

In addition to reducing as much as possible the amount of food waste generated, covered food service establishments will be required to divert organic materials from disposal in descending order of priority, in line with the EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy: donation to programs feeding people, especially the food insecure; providing food and food scraps as animal feed; and finally, processing remaining organic materials into useful value-added products for industry, agriculture, horticulture, or other beneficial applications (e.g. biodiesel, biogas, soaps, composts or other soil amendments) (http://www.epa.gov/foodrecovery/).

Anyone donating food pursuant to this law would be protected from liability under the agricultural and markets law, which exempts a good faith donor of food from liability if the donor has reasonably inspected the food and found it fit for consumption.

Apart from environmental and resource conservation benefits, food waste prevention and organic waste diversion practices also promote the development of sustainable jobs. Requiring diversion of organic waste from landfills by the largest government generators of food waste, and their contractors and lessees, and requiring promotion and further reporting of food and organic waste management by government actors will help improve such practices and spur much needed infrastructure development across the state.

Prior legislative history

None.

Fiscal impact on the state

Facilities recovering organics may experience a slight cost in first establishing programs with likely short-term return on investment and long-term savings (primarily through reduced procurement and disposal costs) as food preparation, sorting, and collection gain in efficiency. EFFECTIVE DATE : This act shall take effect on the first of the month following the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.