BILL NUMBER: S2179
SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
prevention and diversion of food waste
 
PURPOSE:
To require that food service facilities operated by State agencies,
municipalities, local education agencies, or their contractors or
lessees prevent and divert food waste by participating in food donation
and other organics recovery programs.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill establishes the short title of "State and Local
Government Food Waste Prevention and Diversion Act."
Section two of the bill amends article 27 of the environmental conserva-
tion law by adding a new title 34, which would require that covered food
service establishments manage their excess unused food, food scraps, and
organic waste by first minimizing their generation, and then diverting
them from disposal by a series of options. After minimizing genera-
tion,the highest waste prevention and diversion priority would be
donation of excess wholesome food to programs feeding people, especially
the food insecure. Other options include providing food and food scraps
as animal feed, and processing remaining organics into soil amendment or
other useful products through composting, anaerobic digestion, and other
value-adding methods.
Covered food service establishments would be those operated by State
agencies, departments, boards, public benefit corporations, public
authorities or commissions, municipalities, local education agencies, or
their contractors or lessees, that prepare and provide food directly to
consumers, and that generate, from food preparation and service as aver-
aged over the course of the previous ten weeks: beginning in 2018, over
two thousand pounds of food waste per week; beginning in 2020, over one
thousand pounds of food waste per week; and beginning in 2022, over five
hundred pounds of food waste per week.
If the cost to comply with any portion of the food waste prevention and
diversion priorities outlined above is excessive, this section also
provides a process by which a covered food service establishment may be
granted a temporary waiver from complying with that portion.
Additionally, section two of the bill requires the Department of Envi-
ronmental Conservation (DEC) to promote the actions that covered food
service establishments are required to take, and to encourage the public
to better manage excess food, food scraps, and organic waste as well.
Toward this end, the DEC is authorized to collect and report information
to promote improved food and organic waste prevention and diversion.
Section three Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 27-0107 of the
Environmental Conservation law, as added by chapter 70 of the laws of
1988 is amended.
Section four of the bill establishes the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, food waste
comprises approximately 14 percent of the municipal solid waste gener-
ated each year in the United States, or about 34 million tons. Every-
day, food service providers such as hospitals, universities, cafeterias,
restaurants, and food preparation companies must address what to do with
surplus or leftover food and other organic waste generated in their
operations. This includes food waste, food scraps, prepared foods,
produce, bakery and dairy items, meat, and other organics. There are
many ways food service providers can reduce waste, reduce costs, improve
the environment, provide benefits to communities, and otherwise realize
savings by reducing, reusing, and recycling uneaten or unused food and
other discarded organic materials rather than sending them to landfills.
New York State's Solid Waste Management Plan, entitled "Beyond Waste"
published in December 2010, included a programmatic recommendation for
the state to "lead by example" by demonstrating sustainable materials
management within its own operations, specifically indicating organics
recovery as a major component. This bill would require that certain
facilities operated by state agencies, counties, municipalities, local
education agencies, or their contractors recover excess foods and other
organics residuals to the greatest extent practicable. In doing so,
covered facilities would prevent waste and divert discarded organics
from landfills, thereby conserving resources and providing models for
other facilities and organizations to establish their own effective
means of sustainable operation and organic waste management.
In addition to reducing as much as possible the amount of food waste
generated, covered food service establishments will be required to
divert organic materials from disposal in descending order of priority,
in line with the EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy; donation to programs
feeding people, especially the food insecure; providing food and food
scraps as animal feed; and finally, processing remaining organic materi-
als into useful value-added products for industry, agriculture, horti-
culture, or other beneficial applications (e.g.biodiesel, biogas, soaps,
composts or other soil amendments) Anyone donating food pursuant to this
law would be protected from liability under the agricultural and markets
law, which exempts a good faith donor of food from liability if the
donor has reasonably inspected the food and found it fit for consump-
tion. Apart from environmental and resource conservation benefits, food
waste prevention and organic waste diversion practices also promote the
development of sustainable jobs. Requiring diversion of organic waste
from landfills by the largest government generators of food waste, and
their contractors and lessees, and requiring promotion and further
reporting of food and organic waste management by govern ment actors
will help improve such practices and spur much needed infrastructure
development across the state.
 
FISCAL IMPACT ON THE STATE:
Facilities recovering organics may experience a slight cost in first
establishing programs with likely short-term return on investment and
long-term savings (primarily through reduced procurement and disposal
costs) as food preparation, sorting, and collection gain in efficiency.
 
FISCAL IMPACT ON LOCALITIES:
Facilities recovering organics may experience a slight cost in first
establishing programs with likely short-term return on investment and
long-term savings (primarily through reduced procurement and disposal
costs) as food preparation, sorting, and collection gain in efficiency.
 
IMPACT ON REGULATION OF BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUALS:
None
 
IMPACT ON FINES, IMPRISONMENT FORFEITORE OF RIGHTS OR OTHER PENAL SANC-
TIONS:
None
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: S4692 - Referred to Environmental Conservation
2021-22: S.3222 - Referred to Environmental Conservation
2019-20: S.5533- Referred to ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
2017-18: S.5461- REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of the month following the one
hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.