Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators: Background Memorandum
Author
Linda Breggin
Darby Hoover
Jessie Sugarman
Date Released
July 2022
Cover - Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators - Background Memorandum

Up to 40 percent of food in the United States is wasted—and 95 percent is disposed of in landfills or incinerated. Diverting food waste from landfills by preventing food waste, donating surplus food, and recycling food scraps can help municipalities achieve waste reduction and climate mitigation goals. However, many municipalities do not have data on the food wasted in their jurisdictions. Requiring organizations and companies that produce large amounts of food waste to report their waste is an important first step in reducing that waste.

Model Ordinance on Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators With Commentaries
Author
Linda Breggin
Darby Hoover
Jessie Sugarman
Date Released
July 2022
Cover - Model Ordinance on Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators - with commentaries

Up to 40 percent of food in the United States is wasted—and 95 percent is disposed of in landfills or incinerated. Diverting food waste from landfills by preventing food waste, donating surplus food, and recycling food scraps can help municipalities achieve waste reduction and climate mitigation goals. However, many municipalities do not have data on the food wasted in their jurisdictions. Requiring organizations and companies that produce large amounts of food waste to report their waste is an important first step in reducing that waste.

Model Ordinance on Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators Without Commentaries
Author
Linda Breggin
Darby Hoover
Jessie Sugarman
Date Released
July 2022
Cover - Model Ordinance on Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators - without commentaries

Up to 40 percent of food in the United States is wasted—and 95 percent is disposed of in landfills or incinerated. Diverting food waste from landfills by preventing food waste, donating surplus food, and recycling food scraps can help municipalities achieve waste reduction and climate mitigation goals. However, many municipalities do not have data on the food wasted in their jurisdictions. Requiring organizations and companies that produce large amounts of food waste to report their waste is an important first step in reducing that waste.

New Model Policy Bolsters Compost Use and Infrastructure
Compost
Akielly Hu
Linda Breggin
Jessica Sugarman
Darby Hoover
Wednesday, September 1, 2021

A new model compost procurement policy developed by the Environmental Law Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council could help municipalities around the country in their efforts to divert food scraps and other organic materials from their landfills and incinerators and, in so doing, realize myriad economic and environmental benefits.

New Toolkit Helps Cities Address Climate Change & Food Waste Simultaneously
August 2021

(Washington, D.C.): Throughout the United States, our towns and cities are on the front lines when it comes to addressing food waste and climate change. Recognizing the link between these two challenges, the Environmental Law Institute has released a new report that will help towns and cities address these challenges simultaneously—in their climate action plans.

Co-Digestion of Food Waste: A Triple Greenhouse Gas Solution
Aerial iew of co-digesters
Carol Adaire Jones
Thursday, April 1, 2021

An estimated 35% of food that is produced is uneaten, with losses occurring along the supply chain from farms to consumers. The majority from non-industrial sources ends up decomposing in landfills, where it releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG). Recycling food waste through anaerobic digestion (AD), in which bacteria break down organic material in the absence of oxygen and create biogas, can create a triple-win for GHG mitigation.

New Report Identifies Opportunities for Successful Co-Digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities
February 2020

(Washington, D.C.):  Diverting food waste feedstocks like fats, oils and grease, food scraps, and food processing residuals to anaerobic digestion at water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) can provide significant benefits to WRRF finances, as well as to our environment and community well-being; however, WRRFs face a number of hurdles that leave this potential sustainability strategy largely untapped. Fewer than 1 in 10 WRRFs use anaerobic digestion to process wastewater solids, and only 1 in 10 of these are co-digesting high-strength organic wastes.

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