Dive Brief:
- Outgoing New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who left office yesterday, signed a bill into law last week compelling solid waste management districts to come up with plans to achieve a 50% reduction in food waste by 2035. S2464/A2090 gives local governments and organics recyclers a greater role in achieving the reductions than previous state efforts.
- The law also directs the state's Department of Environmental Protection to set up a tiered regulatory structure for compost facilities, which the New Jersey Composting Council said would remove long-standing regulatory barriers to establishing organics recycling infrastructure.
- This builds on other actions New Jersey officials have taken to reduce food waste, and puts it among a growing number of states like Massachusetts and Washington that are reexamining their approach to food waste reduction.
Dive Insight:
The law builds on the state's Food Waste Reduction Act, which was signed in in 2017 and set a goal to reduce food waste 50% by 2030. In 2017, the state's DEP estimated residents generated approximately 1.48 million tons of food waste.
Following the passage of that law, state regulators recommended a series of education and outreach measures to inform the public and encourage food waste reduction, and they also recommended collecting more data regarding the issue. But the early law did not address the role of organics recyclers in food waste reduction, nor did it spell out obligations for local governments.
More recently, the state has taken an interest in both renewable energy and reducing food waste. Murphy signed a contentious law in 2020 requiring certain institutions to divert food waste, joining other states like New York. In December, DEP released an interactive map outlining the state's food waste generators and destinations.
S2426 goes a step farther than earlier efforts by requiring DEP to propose a tiered regulatory structure for composting facilities based on the U.S. Composting Council's Model Compost Rule. The template developed by the industry group would place increasing restrictions on composting facilities as they grow in tonnage, and it includes certain permitting exemptions for small-scale operations, such as at community gardens and schools.
Composters, especially smaller operators, have previously complained that states including New Jersey place too many zoning or permitting hurdles to surpass in order to begin work. New Jersey was not among the 29 states that responded to the U.S. Composting Council's survey the last time it updated its model rules several years ago.
In an email to members, the New Jersey Composting Council celebrated the state’s new law, calling it "a major step forward in reducing food waste, expanding organics recycling, and strengthening New Jersey’s circular economy." The organization also noted that the law adds post-consumer waste to the definition of food waste in the state, capturing more of the material.
The law’s requirement for solid waste districts to set food waste diversion goals uses 2022 as a baseline year. Acceptable strategies include food donation, anaerobic digestion and composting. DEP is also expected to publish a list of strategies in the next 180 days that districts can consider when developing their own plans.
The law includes a carveout — food waste sent to a landfill that converts its gas into renewable natural gas or electricity would be considered recycled. Jairo Gonzalez, president of the New Jersey Composting Council, said in an email to Waste Dive the state has few landfills that fit the description, and he viewed the language as a "pragmatic compromise" to get the bill over the finish line.
