LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 2090

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

221st LEGISLATURE

 

DATED: NOVEMBER 20, 2025

 

 

SUMMARY

 

Synopsis:

Requires solid waste management districts to develop strategy to reduce food waste; requires DEP to adopt certain rules and regulations regarding composting facilities.

Type of Impact:

Annual expenditure increases by local government units, annual State expenditure increases.

Agencies Affected:

Department of Environmental Protection, municipalities, counties, New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.

 

 

Office of Legislative Services Estimate

Fiscal Impact

FY 2028

Thereafter

 

State Expenditure Increase

At least $62,400

Indeterminate

 

Local Expenditure Increase

At least $1.4 million

Indeterminate

 

 

 

 

·         The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) determines that this bill would result in a one-time expenditure increase by counties and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which administers the Hackensack Meadowlands solid waste management district, to amend their solid waste management plans.  The OLS understands that the costs for this process are approximately $5,000 per plan.  The bill also permits solid waste management districts to modify their plans through administrative action, which could mitigate these costs.

 

·         The OLS also determines that implementing a public awareness campaign would be the most cost-effective way for districts to attempt to achieve a 50 percent reduction in food waste collected by solid waste management districts.  Municipalities may also implement donation, source separation, and composting measures.  Several counties informed the OLS that they might spend approximately $56,200 per year on a public awareness campaign, based on previous similar campaigns.  Assuming that each county and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority spends $61,200 in total to amend their plans, organize a public awareness campaign, and implement other recycling and waste reduction strategies, this yields a one-time local cost of $1.4 million.  Multi-year public awareness campaigns and long-term recycling and food waste reduction practices would result in recurring expenditures for these entities.

·         The bill would result in a one-time workload increase for the Department of Environmental Protection to review and approve amended solid waste management plans, develop the webpage required by the bill, create a tiered regulatory structure for composting facilities, and develop new rules and regulations concerning composting.  With existing resources likely adequate for most of these tasks, the department may experience an additional expenditure increase of $62,400, the equivalent of 0.75 FTE.

 

 

BILL DESCRIPTION

 

      This bill would require each solid waste management district in the State (i.e., each county and the Hackensack Meadowlands solid waste management 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 2035, the amount of food waste generated annually in the district by at least 50 percent of the amount that was generated in 2022.  The strategy would be adopted as an amendment to each district’s solid waste management plan or through administrative action, and would be subject to the approval of the Department of Environmental Protection.

      The bill would also require the department, within 180 days after the bill's enactment, to propose rules and regulations to create a tiered regulatory structure for composting facilities.  The bill would require the rules and regulations to be based on the United States Composting Council's Model Compost Rule, and to include certain provisions, such as permit exemptions for small scale composting operations like community gardens and schools.  Furthermore, the department would develop and publish measures that solid waste management districts could take to achieve the food waste reduction requirements established in the bill.

 

 

FISCAL ANALYSIS

 

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

 

      None received.

 

OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES

 

      The OLS determines that this bill would result in a one-time expenditure increase by counties and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to amend their solid waste management plans.  The OLS understands that the administrative costs for this process for each solid waste management district are approximately $5,000.  The bill also permits districts to modify their plans through administrative action, which could mitigate these costs. 

      The OLS also determines that implementing a public awareness campaign would be the most cost-effective way for districts to attempt to achieve a 50 percent reduction in food waste collected by solid waste management districts.  Several counties informed the OLS in FY 2022 that they spent around $50,000 per year on similar campaigns in the past.  Adjusting for inflation, the cost of the same county public awareness campaign would increase to about $56,200.  Multi-year public awareness campaigns would result in recurring expenditures to counties and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.  Assuming that each county and the authority spend about $61,200 to implement the bill, this yields a total local cost of $1.4 million in the first year.  

      The highest-cost scenario would be that municipalities would create new a strategy for the collection and recycling of food waste – for example, a separate curbside collection system to pick up food waste and deliver it to a food waste recycling, composting, or anaerobic digestion center.  This scenario may cost the average municipality in the State millions of dollars to plan and implement, representing a potential statewide local expenditure increase in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  On the other hand, local expenditures on food waste-reduction programs that result in a lower volume of collected food waste could lead to indeterminate cost savings over time from lower tipping fees paid to landfills and incinerators.

      The bill would also result in a one-time workload increase for the Department of Environmental Protection to review and approve amended solid waste management plans, develop the webpage required by the bill, create a tiered regulatory structure for composting facilities, and develop new rules and regulations concerning composting.  With existing resources likely adequate for most of these tasks, the department may experience an additional expenditure increase of $62,400, the equivalent of 0.75 FTE.

 

Section:

Environment, Agriculture, Energy, and Natural Resources

Analyst:

Anna Heckler

Assistant Fiscal Analyst

Approved:

Thomas Koenig

Legislative Budget and Finance Officer

 

This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.

 

This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).