ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT AND SOLID WASTE COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5479

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MAY 12, 2021

      The Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 5479.

      This bill would require each solid waste management district in the State (i.e., each county and the Hackensack Meadowlands District) to develop, as part of its district solid waste management plan, a strategy to reduce food waste in the district.

      Specifically, this bill would require each solid waste management district to develop and implement a strategy for reducing, by the year 2030, the amount of food waste generated annually in the district by at least 50 percent of the amount which is generated in the year this bill is enacted into law.  The strategy would be adopted as an amendment to each district’s solid waste management plan and subject to the approval of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

      The bill would require the DEP to develop, and publish on its Internet website, a list of measures solid waste management districts can take in order to achieve the food waste reduction requirement established in the bill.  These measures would include actions to prevent food waste and increase the donation of surplus edible food, the source separation and recycling of food waste, composting and anaerobic digestion of food waste, and public awareness campaigns.