Dive Brief:
- State legislators in Rhode Island are proposing a law that would make it illegal to dispose of food waste.
- A bill in the state would help establish a new industry that would include the collection, transportation and recycling of organic materials; the bill requires food waste be used for human consumption, animal feed or composting and energy creation.
- The legislation is being introduced in advance of the infrastructure and services being put in place that are necessary to implement a food waste program. The law would first target institutions with residential collection to be mandated at a later time.
Dive Insight:
The proposed legislation would require food waste to be separated from trash starting in 2015 for places that create over 52 tons of food scraps annually, or one ton weekly. The weight would be reduced to producers of 26 tons or more by 2017; by 2019 the amount would drop to 18 tons. Finally, by 2021, people who create any type of food waste would be affected. Residents of Rhode Island would not be forced to comply with the law until the state has an organic recycling facility within 20 miles of their location.
Rhode Island is following the lead of other states who have introduced similar mandates, and is modeling its legislation after Connecticut's law. Massachusetts was the first state to consider a commercial food waste ban. New York City and New Jersey are both introducing pilot food waste recycling programs, while New York City is also working to establish laws that will ban organics from landfills.
