Real Benefits Fostering Food Scrap Recycling
Author
Linda K. Breggin - Environmental Law Institute
Environmental Law Institute
Current Issue
Issue
3
Linda K. Breggin

Between 30 to 40 percent of food is wasted along the supply chain, from processing through in-home and dining-out preparation and consumption. Worse, only 5 percent of the waste is currently diverted to compost or anaerobic digestion facilities that can break down scraps and recycle them into the environment. The other 95 percent has considerable environmental, social justice, and cost implications. As a result, the federal government has set a goal of reducing food waste by 50 percent by 2030.

ELI’s Food Waste Initiative conducts research and collaborates with stakeholders to meet the federal goal by designing and implementing government policies and public-private initiatives to promote food waste reduction, edible-food donation, and diversion of remaining food waste from landfills and waste-to-energy plants toward productive uses.

In addition, I serve as the project coordinator for the Nashville Food Waste Initiative, a project of the Natural Resources Defense Council. In 2015, NRDC picked Nashville as its pilot city for developing high-impact local policies and actions to address food waste. NFWI works with the government of Nashville and Davidson County, as well as a wide range of business and nonprofit stakeholders, to create models for cities around the country.

NFWI’s efforts focus on preventing food waste and rescuing surplus food to feed those struggling with hunger — the two highest-priority strategies. But, NFWI also focuses on food scrap recycling which, although a lower priority, plays a key role in efforts to divert wasted food from landfills and prevent associated methane emissions and nutrient loss.

NRDC’s 2017 report “Estimating Quantities and Types of Food Waste at the City Level” found that as much as 178,920 tons of food are wasted annually in Nashville, and that industrial, commercial, and institutional generators are responsible for approximately 67 percent of this waste.

Motivated in part by these findings, ELI Research Associate Sam Koenig and I interviewed over 25 relevant Nashville stakeholders — including state, regional, and local government officials, waste management companies, advocates, and generators — in an effort to identify the barriers.

ELI recently published the findings in a Landscape Analysis of Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Food Scrap Recycling in Nashville. The report outlines specific actions that key actors, such as local governments, businesses, and nonprofits, can take to build infrastructure and increase food scrap recycling in Nashville.

Our research found that Nashville’s existing infrastructure is limited (with only one nearby commercial organics composting facility and three organics haulers), meaning that increased capacity will be necessary if the area is to establish a robust and resilient food scrap recycling system.

NFWI points to several policies and practices that could foster sustainable food scrap recycling infrastructure. Interviewees suggested that government subsidies for organics recycling businesses or a government procurement policy that encourages the use of finished compost products in construction and landscaping projects could spur infrastructure growth. And, streamlining the state permitting process for new organics processing facilities could lower the barriers to entry for prospective processors. In addition, the creation of a solid waste authority that operates as an enterprise fund could make it easier for Nashville’s government to finance new infrastructure.

NFWI’s research concluded that in Nashville less than 1.5 percent of food scraps are recycled. Practices are limited by numerous barriers, including low awareness of the impact of food waste and benefits of food scrap recycling, the comparatively low cost of landfilling, the need for employee education and training, and the lack of space for food scrap bins in kitchens or on loading docks.

NFWI’s research, however, also identified several steps that can be taken to address these barriers, including education, financial incentives for industrial, commercial, and institutional generators, and limits on landfilling organic wastes.

The report comes at a pivotal juncture, as Nashville’s population is growing at triple the national average, and the landfill upon which it predominantly relies is quickly reaching capacity. Moreover, it recently joined the handful of cities that have set zero waste goals and is currently in the process of developing a long-term zero waste master plan.

The NFWI-ELI report will help motivate stakeholders to take action on food scrap recycling. Our study contains valuable information for other cities that would like to expand their food scrap recycling infrastructure and practices.

Real benefits foster food scrap recycling.