Lawmakers grapple with how to deal with tons of food waste
Daniel J. Munoz reports for NJBIZ
July 22, 2019 9:44 pm
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that about 40 percent of food is never eaten and simply thrown away. That means tons of rotten, spoiled or just plain unwanted victuals must be disposed of. It’s a nationwide problem.
The Environmental Protection Agency recommends a variety of methods, which the agency ranks from most to least preferable, on how to get rid of excess food. For one, businesses could avoid creating excess food in the first place by reducing production.
Beyond that, the EPA suggests sending the food to soup kitchens and food banks, using it as animal feed and then using it as compost for plant soil.
The least-preferable option is sending the waste to incinerators or landfills — considered the dirtiest disposal methods.
Earlier this year, the state Legislature sent to Gov. Phil Murphy what could have been a landmark measure, Senate Bill 1206, aimed at curbing food waste and stimulating a market around greener technology. But an amendment tucked into the bill shortly before it was approved maintains incinerators and landfills as acceptable destinations.
That was never the intention of the legislation. But the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Bob Smith, D-17th District, said he needed to add in those provisions to secure the bill’s passage through the full Assembly and Senate
S1206 would require businesses producing more than 52 tons of food waste a year to separate it from other trash and recycle it.
Institution-level businesses – hospitals, supermarkets, prisons and government facilities – would be affected most. Additionally, starting in 2020 businesses within 25 miles of a “food waste facility” such as those that specialize in anaerobic digestion – which produces methane – or composting, would have to send the food there.
“What this will do is generate the market. This is a chicken and egg situation, where you’ve got to have a market, you’ve got to have the fuel in order to build the digesters,” said Smith, who chairs the Senate Environment Committee. “It’s guaranteeing that they’re going to have a product.”
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Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-36th District – who chairs the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, wanted to add in the provision for landfills – he could not be reached for comment on why.
Assemblyman James Kennedy, D-22nd District, added in the provision for incinerators. He contended that the incinerator in his city of Rahway produces a massive chunk of the region’s electricity.
“Forty percent of its waste is actually food waste, and you’re going to take that out, you have to make some sort of balance so you don’t bankrupt a good thing,” Kennedy said.
“The bill is far from perfect,” Smith conceded, but it “moves the ball forward.”
He acknowledged that the exemptions were unpopular — he did not want them, saying to put food in incinerators is “not a great public policy.”
Related news stories:
Opinion: Burning food waste in N.J. still stinks, even when it’s given another name
Enviros Irked by Changes to Measure that Tackles Sources of NJ Food
New Jersey passes food waste bill favoring landfills and WTE
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