SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 2426

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 20, 2024

      The Senate Environment and Energy Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 2426.

      This bill would require each solid waste management district in the State (i.e., each county and the Hackensack Meadowlands 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 which was generated in 2022.  The strategy would be adopted as an amendment to each district’s solid waste management plan, or through an administrative action, and would be subject to the approval of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

      The bill would require the DEP to develop, and publish on its Internet website, a list of measures solid waste management districts can take in order to achieve the food waste reduction requirement established in the bill.  These measures would include actions to prevent food waste and increase the donation of surplus edible food, the source separation and recycling of food waste, the composting and anaerobic digestion of food waste and other food waste diversion methods that also reduce methane emissions, and public awareness campaigns.

      The bill would also require the DEP, 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, including permit exemptions for small scale composting operations such as community gardens and schools.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amendments to the bill would

      (1) require the food waste reduction strategies required by the bill to reduce the amount of food waste generated by 50 percent by the year 2035, rather than the year 2030, using the year 2022 as a baseline, rather than the year the bill takes effect;

      (2) authorize solid waste management districts to adopt their food waste reduction strategy through an administrative action taken pursuant to DEP regulations;

      (3) require the DEP to propose rules and regulations to create a tiered regulatory structure for composting facilities within 180 days after the bill's enactment; and

      (4) make technical and clarifying changes.