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Maryland Legislators: Support Organics Recycling and Waste Diversion Legislation

Food waste accounts for 22% of waste sent to methane-emitting landfills and toxic-pollution spewing incinerators. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than C02 and incinerators as energy producers are dirtier than coal.

Fortunately, this problem has a solution. Large generators of food waste produce most of the organic waste in the state – facilities that generate over 1 ton of food waste a week contribute over half of Maryland’s organic waste. With HB264, these facilities, like cafeterias and grocery stores, will have a drastic impact on lowering our carbon emissions by source-separating their food residuals and diverting them out of landfills and incinerators by pursuing specific zero waste strategies: sending food residuals to a compost or anaerobic digestion facility, reducing waste, donating servable food, managing residuals in a system installed onsite, or diverting food waste for agricultural purposes.

When similar legislation passed in Vermont, food donation increased by at least 30%, taking usable food and getting it into the hands of food banks and hungry people.

On January 27, the House Environment and Transportation Committee of the Maryland General Assembly is holding a hearing on House Bill 264 “Solid Waste Management--Organics Recycling and Waste Diversion--Food Residuals” (“Organics Recycling and Waste Diversion Legislation”).

Please tell your elected officials to support the Organics Recycling and Waste legislation.

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Maryland State House and State Senate

Subject: Please Support Organics Recycling & Waste Diversion Legislation (HB 264 - Del. Charkoudian)

Message:

As your constituent, I urge you to support HB 264, legislation that promotes organics recycling & waste diversion. Food waste is a persistent problem, with 22% of the overall food supply, both residential and institutional, either uneaten and wasted or as food scraps going to methane-emitting landfills and incinerators that spew toxic pollutants. Composting is an effective tool for reducing CO2 and methane emissions while creating a product that can help improve resilience to our changing climate. Compost adds carbon to the soil and can reduce stormwater pollutants by 60 - 95%, depending on location and soil content. Soil health has been in decline, in part due to our broken food system that has extracted nutrients but have not returned the organic, vegetative matter back to the soils. HB 264 would require large scale food waste producers to source-separate food residuals if an organics recycling facility exists with the capacity and willingness to accept food residuals within a 30 mile radius. The legislation also gives producers flexibility for disposing of waste, such as reducing waste, donating servable food, managing residuals in an onsite system, or diverting food waste for agricultural purposes (like animal feed). Expanding composting and local compost use could create almost 1,400 new full-time jobs in Maryland, would support both new and existing compost facilities, and would be a boon to Maryland businesses that use compost for soil erosion control, stormwater management, green infrastructure, and other purposes. I urge you to support this important legislation and work to ensure its passage.

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