LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
[Third Reprint]
SENATE, No. 2426
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
DATED: DECEMBER 26, 2025
SUMMARY
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Synopsis: |
Requires solid waste management districts to develop strategy to reduce food waste; requires DEP to adopt certain rules and regulations regarding composting facilities. |
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Type of Impact: |
Annual expenditure increases by local government units, annual State expenditure increases. |
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Agencies Affected: |
Department of Environmental Protection, municipalities, counties, New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. |
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Fiscal Impact |
FY 2027 |
Thereafter |
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State Expenditure Increase |
At least $50,000 |
Indeterminate |
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Local Expenditure Increase |
At least $500,000 |
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 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. The bill would permit donated foods and food waste composted or anaerobically digested to count towards this food waste reduction goal. Municipalities may also implement donation, source separation, and composting measures. Several counties informed the OLS that they have spent around $50,000 per year on similar campaigns in the past. Assuming that each county and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority spend $50,000 to amend their plans, organize a public awareness campaign, and implement other recycling and waste reduction strategies, this yields a total one-time local cost of $500,000 and a one-time State cost of $50,000. 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 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, and develop new rules and regulations concerning composting. Current staff using existing resources could likely perform these tasks.
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 permit donated foods and food waste composted or anaerobically digested to count towards this food waste reduction goal. Composting facilities would be subject to streamlined permitting requirements.
The bill would also require the department to adopt rules and regulations to create a tiered regulatory structure for composting facilities. The bill would require the rules and regulations to be in keeping with the Solid Waste Management Act and to include certain provisions, such as permit exemptions for small scale composting operations like community gardens and schools, planning requirements, registrations, and permits. 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 have informed the OLS that they have spent around $50,000 per year on similar campaigns in the past. Multi-year public awareness campaigns would result in recurring expenditures to counties and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. Thus, assuming that each county and the authority spend about $50,000 to implement the bill, this yields a total local cost of $500,000 and a State cost of $50,000 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.
In 2017, an estimated 1.48 million tons of food waste was sent to landfills or incinerated across New Jersey. In the same year, a report by the Environmental Protection Agency concerning anaerobic digestion facilities that accept food waste in the United States, identified only four anaerobic digestion facilities that accept food waste in New Jersey for conversion to renewable energy, all of which maintained additional processing capacity for organic waste materials.
Streamlined permitting processes for composting facilities would further lower the expenditures necessary to comply with this bill’s provisions. Co-digestion and composting facilities across the State have an estimated 900,000 tons per year of unutilized organic waste processing capacity. Fully availing sustainable waste management measures taken by eligible composting and co-digestion facilities in the State, and including those measures in food waste reduction goals, may substantially decrease the expenditures necessary to meet the bill’s food waste reduction targets.
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, and develop new rules and regulations concerning composting. Current staff using existing resources could likely perform these tasks.
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Section: |
Environment, Agriculture, Energy, and Natural Resources |
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Analyst: |
Anna Heckler Assistant Fiscal Analyst |
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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.).