New Jersey food scrap bill disappoints stakeholders

As states across the country, including Vermont, Connecticut and New York, move forward with food scrap recycling mandates, the Association of New Jersey Recyclers (ANJR) says a bill being fast-tracked for passage is preventing the state from making progress in the sector.

“The bill was originally designed to encourage investment in food [scrap] recycling facilities, and it does the exact opposite,” says Marie Kruzan, ANJR executive director.

The bill, which has passed both Houses and is now in the governor’s hands, would require large commercial food generators, including supermarkets, resorts and restaurants, to source separate food scrap and send scraps to an “authorized food waste recycling facility.” Under the bill, landfills with a landfill gas recovery system and incinerators would be considered authorized food scrap recycling facilities.

Exemptions for incinerators were recently added to the bill. After a four-year period, incinerators will have to use anaerobic digestion to process food scrap to be considered a qualified facility.

Kruzan says New Jersey’s landfills and incinerators want to protect the flow of material entering their facilities; however, the bill’s exemptions discourage new investments in anaerobic digestion and composting facilities across the state.

“Landfills don’t want to lose money,” Kruzan says. “It puts in law a definition that says landfilling and incineration is food waste recycling. That’s a slippery slope. You’ve guaranteed the waste to landfills and stifled investments in food waste.”

She adds, “For investors, they have to see they can get material to the facilities.”

Connecticut’s state law mandates commercial establishments that generate 104 or more tons per day to source separate and recycle food scrap if a permitted facility is within 20 miles. Permitted facilities include a combination of indoor and outdoor windrow composting facilities and anaerobic digestion centers. Kruzan says the bill has spurred growth as several anaerobic digestion centers are under construction in the state.

New Jersey is seeing small investment, but nothing on the commercial scale, Kruzan says. Princeton University installed an anaerobic digester in 2019, as well as other municipalities interested in sustainability, she says.

“We have small facilities. One windrow facility in Sussex County,” Kruzan says. “We’re looking to increase investment in organics. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont have all passed bills. Where are we?”

A new section of the bill also calls for the establishment of a food waste recycling market development council, which will prepare a report on existing markets for any products or energy produced from food scrap recycling facilities, as well as recommend changes needed to state laws and regulations to “stimulate the market” for composting and anaerobic digestion facilities. Regional associations and councils working on the bill intend to use the development council to propel legislation forward in the state.

“We’re disappointed with the exclusions from the food waste recycling mandate around landfills and temporary exemption for incinerators,” says Isaac Bearg, officer at New Jersey Composting Council. “However, we intend to continue to engage with the Department of Environmental Protection around regulations called for in the bill. We will pursue the food waste market development council and the positives that can come from it.”

Kruzan adds, “You keep working on it, that’s all you can do. It’s something that needs to be done. It’s a big untapped area in this state.”