Maine takes another shot at joining New England peers with proposed food waste ban
Maine is trying again to catch up with its regional peers by introducing legislation to prioritize donating and recycling food waste, rather than throwing it away.
The Legislature's Environment and Natural Resources Committee is holding a public hearing Wednesday morning for a bipartisan bill from Sen. Stacy Brenner (D-Cumberland) that could help address Maine's mounting trash problem and greenhouse gas emissions by diverting food waste from landfills. Commonly called a food waste ban, Maine attempted similar legislation last session, but it died due to lack of funding.
Thanks to a first-of-its-kind study in 2024, there is concrete data showing that more than 360,000 tons of food is wasted or lost in Maine annually. While much of that could be recovered to feed the one in eight Mainers who face hunger, it instead rots in landfills creating methane, a harmful greenhouse gas.
LD 1065 would prohibit significant generators of food waste, which could include schools, hospitals, food producers and others, from disposing of food waste if they are close to a facility that could compost or otherwise dispose of the waste. Like the proposal last session, the bill outlines a gradual approach to expand the requirement based on someone's location and the amount of waste generated.
If adopted, LD 1065 would initially cover entities that produce an annual average of two or more tons of food waste per week and are located within 20 miles of an organics recycler, starting July 1, 2027. In 2029, those parameters would be reduced to one or more tons per week and within 25 miles of an available recycling facility.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection opposed the proposal last session, saying it would require additional staff to help people understand if they are subject to the ban and how to comply. Additionally, the department argued that the state lacks the infrastructure for food waste collection, processing and composting for the ban to be effective.
Brenner's proposal does not yet have a cost estimate, but the previous bill was estimated to cost upwards of $550,000 for five staff positions and other associated costs for the department.
Currently, Maine is the only New England state without some version of a food waste ban. Advocates argue that adopting such a prohibition not only offers social and environmental benefits, but is crucial to achieve Maine's goal of cutting food loss and waste in half by 2030, as outlined in the state's most recent climate action plan.
Connecticut was the first New England state to pass a food waste law back in 2011. Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island followed suit in the years after, and New Hampshire joined them in 2023.
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