CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
ENGROSSED SECOND SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2301
Chapter 341, Laws of 2024
68th Legislature
2024 Regular Session
WASTE MATERIAL MANAGEMENT—VARIOUS PROVISIONS
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 6, 2024
Passed by the House March 5, 2024 CERTIFICATE
Yeas 57 Nays 36
I, Bernard Dean, Chief Clerk of the
House of Representatives of the
LAURIE JINKINS State of Washington, do hereby
Speaker of the House of certify that the attached is
Representatives ENGROSSED SECOND SUBSTITUTE HOUSE
BILL 2301 as passed by the House of
Representatives and the Senate on
the dates hereon set forth.
Passed by the Senate March 1, 2024
Yeas 30 Nays 19
BERNARD DEAN
DENNY HECK Chief Clerk
President of the Senate
Approved March 28, 2024 2:26 PM FILED
March 29, 2024
Secretary of State
JAY INSLEE State of Washington
Governor of the State of Washington
 ENGROSSED SECOND SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2301
AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE
Passed Legislature - 2024 Regular Session
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2024 Regular Session
By House Appropriations (originally sponsored by Representatives
Doglio, Fitzgibbon, Duerr, Berry, Ramel, Ormsby, Peterson, Pollet,
Macri, Cortes, Shavers, Leavitt, and Kloba)
READ FIRST TIME 02/05/24.
1 AN ACT Relating to improving the outcomes associated with waste
2 material management systems, including products affecting organic
3 material management systems; amending RCW 70A.207.020, 70A.214.100,
4 70A.205.540, 70A.205.545, 70A.455.040, 70A.455.070, 70A.455.090,
5 15.04.420, and 43.19A.150; adding new sections to chapter 70A.207
6 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 43.23 RCW; adding a new section
7 to chapter 70A.455 RCW; and creating new sections.
8 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
9 PART 1
10 INTENT
11 NEW SECTION. Sec. 101. INTENT. (1) The legislature finds:
12 (a) Washington is now experiencing the effects of a climate
13 crisis: Hotter summers with record-breaking temperatures, devastating
14 fires, drought conditions, and rising sea levels that erode our
15 coastlines and are causing some communities to move upland;
16 (b) Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and landfills are
17 documented by the United States environmental protection agency to be
18 the 3rd largest human-made source, with food, yard waste, and other
19 plant-based organic material degrading in landfills to methane;
p. 1 E2SHB 2301.SL
 1 (c) Food waste is a major issue in the United States and
2 globally, that, according to the food and agriculture organization of
3 the United Nations, unwanted and discarded food squanders resources,
4 including water, land, energy, labor, and capital, estimated that
5 one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption,
6 about 1,300,000,000 tons, is lost or wasted every year, and the food
7 loss and waste in industrialized countries equates to a value of
8 approximately $680,000,000,000;
9 (d) The Harvard University food law and policy clinic has
10 estimated that 40 percent of the food supply in the United States is
11 not eaten and that according to the United States environmental
12 protection agency and the United States department of agriculture,
13 food loss and waste is the single largest component of disposed
14 municipal solid waste in the United States;
15 (e) In 2015, that the administrator of the United States
16 environmental protection agency and the secretary of the United
17 States department of agriculture announced a national goal of
18 reducing food waste by 50 percent by the year 2030. In 2019,
19 Washington established the same goal in RCW 70A.205.715;
20 (f) Compost and other products of organic material management
21 facilities have beneficial applications and can improve soil health,
22 water quality, and other environmental outcomes. However, in order
23 for the products of organic material management facilities to lead to
24 improved environmental outcomes and for the economics of the
25 operations of these facilities to pencil out, it is important that
26 inbound sources of organic material waste are free of plastic
27 contamination, pesticides, and other materials that will reduce
28 compost quality; and
29 (g) Farmers, processors, retailers, and food banks in Washington
30 are leaders in addressing this issue, and in 2022, with the enactment
31 of chapter 180, Laws of 2022 (Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill
32 No. 1799), Washington took significant steps towards the improvement
33 of organic material management systems.
34 (2) It is the legislature's intent to provide additional tools
35 and financial resources to build on this progress in coming years by:
36 (a) Creating a variety of grant programs to support food waste
37 reduction, food rescue, and other organic material management system
38 improvements, including grants to support the implementation of new
39 policy requirements related to organic material management;
p. 2 E2SHB 2301.SL
 1 (b) Amending solid waste management requirements in support of
2 improved organic material management outcomes, including through the
3 statewide standardization of colors and labels for organic,
4 recycling, and garbage bins, and amending the organic material
5 management service requirements in local jurisdictions and that apply
6 to businesses;
7 (c) Making changes to product degradability labeling
8 requirements; and
9 (d) Continuing to discuss how to maximize donations of food from
10 generators of unwanted edible food.
11 (3) It is the legislature's intent for the following management
12 option preferences to apply to the management of food under this act,
13 including the provisions of law being amended by this act, in order
14 of most preferred to least preferred:
15 (a) Prevents wasted food;
16 (b) Donates or upcycles food;
17 (c) Feeds animals or leaves food unharvested;
18 (d) Composts or anaerobically digests materials with beneficial
19 use of the compost, digestate, or biosolids;
20 (e) Anaerobically digests materials with the disposal of
21 digestate or biosolids, or applies material to the land; and
22 (f) Sends materials down the drain, to landfills, or incinerates
23 material, with or without accompanying energy recovery.
24 PART 2
25 FUNDING FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD MANAGEMENT PRIORITIES
26 NEW SECTION. Sec. 201. A new section is added to chapter
27 70A.207 RCW to read as follows:
28 CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD MANAGEMENT GRANTS. (1) The
29 department, through the center, must develop and administer grant
30 programs to support activities that reduce emissions from landfills
31 and waste-to-energy facilities through the diversion of organic
32 materials and food waste prevention, rescue, and recovery. The
33 department must seek stakeholder input in the design, criteria, and
34 logistics associated with each grant program. The department must
35 allocate grant funding across the eligible categories specified in
36 subsection (2) of this section in a manner consistent with
37 legislative appropriations, and that achieves the following
38 priorities:
p. 3 E2SHB 2301.SL
 1 (a) Maximizing greenhouse gas emission reductions;
2 (b) Eliminating barriers to the rescue and consumption of edible
3 food that would otherwise be wasted;
4 (c) Developing stable funding programs for the department to
5 administer and stable funding opportunities for potential fund
6 recipients to be aware of; and
7 (d) Preferences the following management options, in order of
8 most preferred to least preferred:
9 (i) Prevents wasted food;
10 (ii) Donates or upcycles food;
11 (iii) Feeds animals or leaves food unharvested;
12 (iv) Composts or anaerobically digests materials with beneficial
13 use of the compost, digestate, or biosolids;
14 (v) Anaerobically digests materials with the disposal of
15 digestate or biosolids, or applies material to the land;
16 (vi) Sends materials down the drain, to landfills, or incinerates
17 material, with or without accompanying energy recovery.
18 (2) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this
19 specific purpose, grants under this section may be awarded to the
20 following categories of activities:
21 (a) Projects to prevent the surplus of unsold, uneaten food from
22 food businesses or to standardize and improve the operating
23 procedures associated with food donations, including efforts to
24 standardize collection bins, provide staff training for food donors
25 or food rescue organizations, or make other changes to increase the
26 efficiency or efficacy of food donation procedures. Local
27 governments, federally recognized Indian tribes and federally
28 recognized Indian tribal government entities, nonprofit
29 organizations, and generators of unwanted edible food are eligible
30 applicants for grants under this subsection. Equipment and
31 infrastructure purchases, training costs, costs associated with the
32 development and deployment of operating protocols, and employee staff
33 time reimbursement are eligible uses of grant funding under this
34 subsection;
35 (b)(i) Projects to improve and reduce the transportation of
36 donated foods and management of cold chains across the donated food
37 supply chain, including through food rescue organizations. Local
38 governments, federally recognized Indian tribes and federally
39 recognized Indian tribal government entities, nonprofit
40 organizations, transporters of unwanted edible food, and generators
p. 4 E2SHB 2301.SL
 1 of unwanted edible food are eligible applicants for grants under this
2 subsection. Eligible uses of grant funding under this subsection
3 include the acquisition of vehicles, cold-storage equipment, real
4 estate, and technology to support donated food storage and
5 transportation system improvements.
6 (ii) Grants under this subsection (2)(b) may not be used for the
7 purchase or lease of equipment that relies on a fuel source other
8 than electricity or the purchase or lease of vehicles other than
9 zero-emission vehicles;
10 (c)(i) Grant programs to support the establishment and expansion
11 of wasted food reduction programs to benefit vulnerable communities.
12 This grant program must be developed in consultation with the
13 department of health and food policy stakeholders.
14 (ii) Nonprofit organizations, businesses, associations, federally
15 recognized Indian tribes and federally recognized Indian tribal
16 government entities, and local governments are eligible to receive
17 grants under this subsection. Eligible uses of the funds may include
18 community food hub development projects, cold food storage capacity,
19 refrigerated transport capacity, convenings to inform innovation in
20 wasted food reduction in retail and food service establishments, and
21 pilot projects to reduce wasted food. No more than 20 percent of
22 funds allocated under this subsection (2)(c) may be awarded to a
23 single grant recipient; and
24 (d) Food waste tracking and analytics pilot project grants. Local
25 governments, federally recognized Indian tribes and federally
26 recognized Indian tribal government entities, nonprofit
27 organizations, transporters of unwanted edible food, and generators
28 of unwanted edible food are eligible applicants for grants under this
29 subsection. Eligible uses of grant funding under this subsection
30 include staff time and technology to improve food waste prevention or
31 improve tracking of food donations through the food supply chain and
32 to provide data useful to enabling more efficient and effective
33 outcomes for the provision of food available for rescue.
34 (3) The department may establish additional eligibility criteria
35 or application process requirements beyond those described in
36 subsection (2) of this section for a category or categories of
37 activity. The department may, as a condition of the award of a grant
38 under this section, require the reporting of information to the
39 department regarding the outcomes of the funded activities.
p. 5 E2SHB 2301.SL
1 (4) The department may award grants to eligible applicants
2 meeting the minimum qualifying criteria on a competitive basis, or to
3 applicants on a noncompetitive basis, or both. Within each category
4 of activity described in subsection (2) of this section, the
5 department must prioritize grant applications that benefit
6 overburdened communities as defined in RCW 70A.02.010 as identified
7 by the department in accordance with RCW 70A.02.050.
8 NEW SECTION. Sec. 202. A new section is added to chapter
9 70A.207 RCW to read as follows:
10 SUSTAINABLE FOOD MANAGEMENT POLICY IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS. (1) The
11 department, through the center, must develop and administer grant
12 programs to support the implementation of the requirements of this
13 act and chapter 180, Laws of 2022, with priority given to grants that
14 support the implementation of RCW 70A.205.540 and 70A.205.545.
15 Eligible recipients of grants under this section may include
16 businesses that are subject to organic material management
17 requirements, local governments, federally recognized Indian tribes
18 and federally recognized Indian tribal government entities, nonprofit
19 organizations, or organic material management facilities. Eligible
20 expenses by grant recipients include education, outreach, technical
21 assistance, indoor and outdoor infrastructure, transportation and
22 processing infrastructure, and enforcement costs.
23 (2) The department may not require, as a condition of financial
24 assistance under this section, that matching funds be made available
25 by a local government recipient. The department must provide
26 assistance to each local government that demonstrates eligibility for
27 grant assistance under this section.
28 Sec. 203. RCW 70A.207.020 and 2022 c 180 s 402 are each amended
29 to read as follows:
30 CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD MANAGEMENT DUTIES. (1) The Washington
31 center for sustainable food management is established within the
32 department((, to begin operations by January 1, 2024)).
33 (2) The purpose of the center is to help coordinate statewide
34 food waste reduction.
35 (3) The center may perform the following activities:
36 (a) Coordinate the implementation of the plan;
p. 6 E2SHB 2301.SL
 1 (b) Draft plan updates and measure progress towards actions,
2 strategies, and the statewide goals established in RCW 70A.205.007
3 and 70A.205.715(1);
4 (c) Maintain a website with current food waste reduction
5 information and guidance for food service establishments, consumers,
6 food processors, hunger relief organizations, and other sources of
7 food waste;
8 (d) Provide staff support to multistate food waste reduction
9 initiatives in which the state is participating;
10 (e) Maintain the consistency of the plan and other food waste
11 reduction activities with the work of the Washington state
12 conservation commission's food policy forum;
13 (f) Facilitate and coordinate public-private and nonprofit
14 partnerships focused on food waste reduction, including through
15 voluntary working groups;
16 (g) Collaborate with federal, state, and local government
17 partners on food waste reduction initiatives;
18 (h) Develop and maintain maps or lists of locations of the food
19 systems of Washington that identify food flows, where waste occurs,
20 and opportunities to prevent food waste;
21 (i)(i) Collect and maintain data on food waste and wasted food in
22 a manner that is generally consistent with the methods of collecting
23 and maintaining such data used by federal agencies or in other
24 jurisdictions, or both, to the greatest extent practicable;
25 (ii) Develop measurement methodologies and tools to uniformly
26 track food donation data, food waste prevention data, and associated
27 climate impacts resultant from food waste reduction efforts;
28 (j) Research and develop emerging organic materials and food
29 waste reduction markets;
30 (k)(i) Develop and maintain statewide food waste reduction and
31 food waste contamination reduction campaigns, in consultation with
32 other state agencies and other stakeholders, including the
33 developme