Dive Brief:

• Tucson, AZ is set to start a pilot food waste program that will include collection and composting at local businesses.
• The program will begin with 16 commercial businesses in the area. Food waste will be collected from restaurants and food stores, then transported to a composting center for processing. The center is operated by a University of Arizona program called the Compost Cats.
• The Environmental Services Department will determine if a significant quantity of food scraps are collected. If findings are positive, then the next step will be to develop a reasonably-priced collection program.

Dive Insight:

The compost generated through the program will be sold at farmer’s markets and used by the city’s parks and recreation department and by the Tohono Nation, a federally recognized tribe who live in Arizona.

Many areas across the nation are experimenting with food waste pilot programs. Both Ann Arbor, MI and numerous municipalities in New Jersey started food waste programs. New York City has expanded its organics collections to reach more neighborhoods. As popularity grows, towns are looking to build food waste plants to process greater volumes of organics. Legislators in Rhode Island introduced a law to address organics waste; the state wants to make it illegal to dispose of food improperly. In February, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to ban commercial food waste.