Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC), based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Center for EcoTechnology (CET), a nonprofit environmental consultant for businesses based in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, have released a new toolkit on state and local organic waste bans. 

Bans and Beyond: Designing and Implementing Organic Waste Bans and Mandatory Organics Recycling Laws serves as a resource for state and local policymakers, regulators and advocates interested in policy solutions to reduce food waste and keep food out of landfills.

Bans and Beyond examines the legal landscape of existing state and local organic waste bans. This landscape is constantly evolving: six states and seven municipalities across the country have now passed organic waste bans, and three of these policies passed within the last year. The toolkit analyzes the structure of these different policies and the challenges that jurisdictions have faced in implementing them—for example, challenges with accessing funding, developing effective enforcement mechanisms and building sufficient organics recycling infrastructure.

The toolkit also analyzes nine additional sets of policies and programs that can be implemented to incentivize waste reduction. These policies are essential to creating an environment where organic waste bans can succeed and can also be effective policy tools to reduce food waste in states where an organic waste ban or recycling mandate may not be feasible, FLPC says. 

For example, states and localities can provide grant funding for food waste reduction, recovery and recycling programs; revise permitting and zoning regulations to facilitate the development of composting facilities and anaerobic digesters; and implement pay-as-you-throw systems that charge residents based on the amount of waste they throw out in order to encourage residents to reduce their waste disposal and increase recycling and composting.

This toolkit builds on other resources FLPC has produced to support states and localities in addressing food waste through policy. FLPC’s 2016 toolkit, Keeping Food Out of the Landfill, offers an array of policy suggestions for reducing food waste, from strengthening food donation liability protections to implementing organic waste bans. The most recent toolkit builds on that with much more detail about organic waste bans.

In recent years, state and local governments have explored policies to reduce the 40 percent of food in the U.S. that goes to waste. Organic waste bans are one of the most innovative categories of policies, FLPC says in a news release. By restricting the amount of food waste that businesses and individuals can dispose of in landfills, organic waste bans can drive adoption of more sustainable practices. 

FLPC says cost-benefit analyses have shown the potential of organic waste bans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while stimulating local economies and creating green jobs. In Massachusetts, the state’s organic waste ban supported over 900 jobs in the organic waste hauling, processing and food rescue industries in 2016 and generated $175 million in industry activity.

As part of the global rebranding, Lifting Gear Hire (LGH), Bridgeview, Illinois, has revealed its corporate name change to LGH, adding an international aspect to the business. The new name subdues variations in meaning, especially between Europe and the United States, where the word hire tends to only be used for people, not equipment. The change will standardize the LGH brand across the group’s 36 locations, in six countries.

Designed to be familiar yet better suited to the digital environment, LGH says the refreshed logo reflects the advances the company has made in recent years with new technology and forward thinking.

LGH says its new global website showcases a wider perspective of the company’s international projects and expertise. The site highlights LGH’s vision and values and illustrates its global reach, capability and competence in a wide range of industry sectors, the company says.

Established in 1970, LGH says it is approaching half a century of experience in the lifting industry and holds more lifting gear for rental in more countries than anyone else. As part of its long-term strategy, LGH says it plans to open a new location every year for the foreseeable future, continuing expansion throughout North America, Europe and new territories.

Ian Parkinson, LGH group chairman, says, “We have made significant changes within our operations in order to position ourselves to better serve both existing customers and drive forward into new emerging markets.

“Backed by a new name and a unified identity, LGH is now in great shape to deliver even better service for more customers in more locations [and] as always, putting safety first,” he adds.

SCS Engineers, Long Beach, California, has announced a 5-year contract with the Solid Waste Management Division of California’s San Bernardino County Department of Public Works. SCS Field Services—the operations, maintenance and monitoring (OM&M) division of SCS Engineers—is providing landfill gas systems, OM&M, support services and other technologies to the county.

The county says that while its Solid Waste Management Division is managing growth in an environmentally conscientious manner, it is costly. The county has 40 landfill and disposal sites, a portion of which have active landfill gas extraction and treatment systems (LFGES). These systems collect and control landfill gas (LFG) and play a critical role in ensuring the ongoing safety of the environment, providing biogas and helping to keep greenhouse gases to a minimum.

LFGES’s are complex and individual to each site. They are operated, maintained and monitored in compliance with several regulatory requirements, including South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District (MDAQMD) regulations. The systems run in compliance with subpart 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 60, title 27 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) and the California Assembly Bill 32.

SCS says it has provided technician support, compliance expertise and technology for the past nine years for the county. There have been no notices of violation (NOV), lost days of work or lost days of operation during that period, the company says.

The county is using SCS’s Ignition Perspective SCADA software. This technology is a part of the SCS remote monitoring and control (SCS RMC) system, which SCS says provides the county with a scalable, customized view of its landfill gas and related compliance systems that reduces OM&M costs.

The county is also using the SCS RMC Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) part 107-certified drone pilots, equipped with a drone fleet. The drones monitor methane, conduct infrared surveillance, perform 3D topographic modeling and provide landfill open-face stockpile calculations. The sensors and cameras provide high-resolution images with centimeter-level accuracy data that maintains environmental quality at a lower cost.

“Our performance-based process and technology with site-specific data provide a high level of certainty,” says Galen Petoyan, senior vice president at SCS.

Robert Legaspi, a vice president and regional manager at SCS, says, “This assurance allows regulators and the county to make informed decisions, now and in the future, benefiting the citizens of San Bernardino.”

The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has premiered Trucks of Art, an art exhibit that challenges artists to decorate five new collection vehicles with hand-painted designs. The trucks’ artwork, displayed in Times Square, encourages New Yorkers to think sustainably and honors the 7,500 sanitation workers who keep New York City healthy, safe and clean. This is the first time the DSNY has transformed the collection trucks into artists’ canvases; however, DSNY says Trucks of Art builds upon the department’s history of working with artists.

“These Trucks of Art … beautify our cityscape while reminding New Yorkers that they’re our partners in keeping New York City healthy, safe and clean,” says Kathryn Garcia, sanitation commissioner for DSNY.

DSNY says nearly 100 artists submitted design concepts, with artists living in countries as far as Pakistan expressing interest in the project. Additionally, Trucks of Art was a zero-waste challenge. Artists used cans of New Yorkers’ unwanted paints collected from the department’s SAFE disposal events and special waste disposal sites.

Artists known as Dister, Lady K-Fever, Misha Tyutyunik, Victor A. Saint-Hilaire, Jillian White, as well as visual art students from New York City-based Energy Tech High School, all participated in Trucks of Art.

Dister’s truck illustrates the men and women of the DSNY who serve New Yorkers each day.

“My artwork is a depiction of sanitation workers and shows love to the NYC Department of Sanitation and to our neighborhoods,” Dister says. “Sanitation is a vital part of how we live our day-to-day lives and my work reminds people that sanitation workers are part of our community.”

Lady K-Fever’s truck is covered with flowers, birds and grass.

“We’re experiencing a global garbage problem, and I designed my mural to make people think about the beauty of our environment and how recycling can impact a positive future,” Lady K-Fever says.

Tyutyunik and Saint-Hilaire’s truck adds bold color to the collection routes it will serve.

“My mural honors the Department of Sanitation and brings an awareness of recycling to the New Yorkers who DSNY serves,” Tyutyunik says.

White brought a personal perspective to her Truck of Art.

“I purposely wanted to portray a female sanitation worker to symbolize how our workforce has grown and diversified to include many women serving New York City,” White says. “My art honors the DSNY workforce and also encourages recycling, because it displays New York’s strongest doing what they are known to do best—keeping our city clean.”

Alex Anastas, visual arts teacher at Energy Tech High School, led students in their effort to honor DSNY and encourage environmentalism with their truck.

“Our advanced art mural students studied public art including history, designing, creating and installing murals and public works. In Trucks of Art, they worked independently and collaboratively to best conceptualize and then beautify the truck,” Anastas says.

The New York City-based Times Square Alliance hosted the public premiere of Trucks of Art on Broadway, where the five vehicles were on display. 

“DSNY is transforming trash to treasure in Times Square this week,” says Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance. “Times Square has always been about creativity and transformation and more and more of it is a place of public art that fuses those things together. We are excited to have DSNY do this here.”

The trucks, offering painters nearly 400 square feet of canvas space, have dual bins, meaning they have two containment areas to separate materials. For example, the dual bins can isolate plastic, metal and glass from paper and cardboard. The Trucks of Art are the newest to join the fleet, and each will be assigned to routes after being on display for the public throughout the summer.

James O’Connor/DSNY