Imagine 6,000 garbage trucks full of food driving past your home. Some of this food is perfectly good, like day-old bread and pastries from grocery stores and bakeries; bread and pastries that could be donated to a food bank. The rest of the food isn’t edible, like the lettuce you forgot about in the back of your fridge until it was too late. But even this food still has value. It could easily be composted to create a valuable and much-needed fertilizer.

Mainers generate more than 230,000 tons of food waste each year. Most of this food waste is sent to landfills where it breaks down to produce methane, a powerful climate-damaging greenhouse gas. In total, the carbon footprint of U.S. food waste is greater than the airline industry’s.

Wasting all this food just doesn’t make sense, especially when hunger is prevalent across the state. Roughly 150,000 Mainers are considered food insecure, meaning they have limited or uncertain access to food. Hunger isn’t something the food insecure experience momentarily, it’s a constant fear. Although this is a widespread problem, it’s especially common among children. One in five children in Maine struggle with a lack of access to sufficient food. It’s hard to accept the fact that we’re wasting so much food when so many people are struggling with hunger.

It’s also hard to accept the fact that we’re trashing thousands of tons of food scraps that could easily be composted to create fertilizer; fertilizer that could help replenish the thousands of acres of farmland contaminated with toxic forever chemicals.

The good news? We can break from the status quo. Even better news? A solution is on the horizon that could help us do just that. Earlier this year, both the House and Senate passed L.D. 1009, a bill that would finally set Maine up to address food waste in a meaningful and comprehensive way. Unfortunately, the bill has sat on the appropriations desk without any indication of whether it will move.

The bill would require large food waste generators — those that produce more than two tons of food waste per week — to divert their food waste from landfills. These generators will instead have to donate their excess edible food to food banks and food pantries. This means food generators can help feed those in need, rather than sending perfectly good food to rot in a landfill. As for the rest of their food waste, large generators will have to send it to be recycled. Importantly, these requirements would only apply if the generator is located within 20 miles of an organic recycler, like a composting or anaerobic digestion facility.

This isn’t a new idea. Nine states have already enacted a similar policy. This includes every other state in New England. Yes, even New Hampshire has stepped up to address food waste. And the results are incredible. In every instance, these laws have increased food donations, reduced landfilling, expanded access to organic recycling services, created jobs and bolstered the economy.

Massachusetts enacted its food waste policy in 2014. Since then, the state has diverted more than 200,000 tons of food waste from its landfills. Meanwhile, donations of fresh and perishable foods grew by over 50%. The program also boosted economic growth by creating over 900 jobs and spurring $175 million in economic activity. In Vermont, the policy helped triple food donations in the first three years. A trend which continued with food donations doubling in 2017, and then again in 2019. Recent evidence shows that 71% of all food waste in Vermont is being donated or recycled. In Maryland, the new food waste law is helping fuel investment into composting programs. In fact, the state’s largest compost company doubled its capacity, expanded services and raised $5.5 million for further development.

Clearly, food waste legislation has been incredibly effective in states across the country. It’s time for Maine to get serious about food waste. Gov. Mills and the Legislature have an opportunity to pass a bill that will provide tremendous benefits to every corner of the state. We can’t wait any longer.

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