By Matthew Hersh
A recently signed law represents a significant shift in the state’s approach to food waste, moving from simple public education toward a more structured regulatory and county government mandate.
The law, stemming from among hundreds of bills signed in the final hours of Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration, creates a mandatory food waste reduction goal of 50 percent by 2035 and requires solid waste management districts, which are mostly counties, to develop plans to meet these diversion goals.
Advocates for the bill praised the law’s creation of a tiered permitting system based on the U.S. Composting Council’s Model Compost Rule, which includes lowering permitting and zoning hurdles that have made it difficult for food waste and composting facilities to open, providing small-scale exemptions for smaller operations including schools and community gardens, and increasing regulatory requirements as a facility’s intake increases.
Over the next six months, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will hold five stakeholder meetings on the new law that focus on a tiered permitting, and preventing other obstacles that go along with composting. In the meantime, advocates, including the Princeton-based NJ Composting Council, are preparing a guidance document that would supplement the DEP outreach process.
Mercer County Executive Dan Benson said the county was studying the new law during this implementation period, and highlighted the existing work being done at the county and local levels to reduce and divert food waste. Benson noted that Mercer County is currently working on a new sustainability element of the county Master Plan, and developing a food waste strategy would be a component of that plan.
The county’s food waste strategy will be developed in coordination with the Mercer County Improvement Authority, which already manages the county recycling program.
“Between our input and what the DEP is doing to create the right regulations, counties should have a clear picture of what’s going on and should have some real guidance and direction on what to do,” said Matthew Wasserman, vice president of the NJ Composting Council.
Funding continues to be a question regarding implementation, but Wasserman said he would expect the state’s FY27 budget to include adequate funding for counties to implement food waste diversion plans.
The new food waste reduction law is being touted as an important complement to existing food waste diversion programs, with local leaders emphasizing the difference between “diversion” and “reduction.” Princeton has embarked on a number of food waste diversion programs.
“Princeton has been a leader in the state for residential food scrap recycling,” said James Purcell, Princeton assistant municipal engineer. “Since the inception of our grant-funded drop-off program in October 2023, over 60 tons of organics have been diverted from landfills. Over 500 households are helping Princeton to reduce landfill waste, produce clean energy, and provide soil amendments for New Jersey farms. As an early adopter we have come to understand how important statewide policies are to scaling and sustaining food waste recycling infrastructure.”
The program now averages 1,500 pounds per week, nearly double the amount from its early days.