The Environmental Law Institute and NRDC recently released six model resolutions on advancing food waste reduction, complimenting the six existing ELI/NRDC model municipal policies. These new model resolutions provide template language that city councils and other municipal legislative bodies can adopt, in whole or in part, to express support for a range of food waste reduction measures
Each resolution can be found through the appropriate hub of model governance tools and resources:
- Model Municipal Ordinance on Advancing Community Composting (June 2025)
- Model Municipal Zoning Ordinance on Community Composting (June 2024)
- Model Ordinance Establishing a Pay-As-You-Throw Program for Residential Municipal Solid Waste (November 2023)
- Model Executive Order on Municipal Leadership on Food Waste Reduction (July 2023)
- Model Ordinance on Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators (July 2022)
- Model Compost Procurement Policy (July 2021)
ELI’s Linda Breggin explains that the previously published “off-the-shelf" NRDC/ELI model municipal policies “are intended to help mitigate the substantial transaction costs associated with researching, drafting, and enacting new food waste reduction measures.” She notes that the models “offer streamlined legal language that can be adopted ‘as is’ but can also be easily tailored to a municipality’s specific circumstances.” The model policies are typically accompanied by a version with commentaries and a background memorandum that provide context, examples, and alternative approaches.
According to Breggin, each of the six model municipal policies now has a companion model resolution that can serve to raise awareness of the food waste problem and a specific solution. Each model resolution expresses municipal support for a particular outcome (e.g., increased waste diversion or reduced barriers to community composting) and identifies specific measures to consider adopting (e.g., a residential municipal solid waste management pricing system or specifications for the use of compost in municipal projects). The resolutions may also authorize a legislative committee to study whether and how to take action on the relevant food waste issue.
In general, resolutions are typically used by municipal legislative bodies to express an official nonbinding statement, position, or policy, according to ELI’s Taalin RaoShah. By way of example, he points to a resolution passed in 2023 by the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County “supporting municipal leadership on food waste reduction and encouraging a Metropolitan Government and community-wide target of a 50% reduction in food waste from 2017 levels by 2030.”
RaoShah also emphasizes that resolutions don’t only raise awareness but, in some cases, can motivate the enactment of subsequent binding legislation. For example, in 2007, the Seattle City Council adopted a resolution to set city-wide recycling goals and to encourage certain general approaches. Since then, the municipality has implemented several requirements to advance that goal, including mandating that multi-family buildings provide compost collection service in 2011 and banning compostable food scraps from being thrown in the garbage in 2015.
In addition to adopting formal governance tools, such as resolutions and ordinances, municipalities can advance food waste reduction through other measures like pilot projects and convenings. They can also include food waste reduction measures in their sustainability plans (see ELI’s A Toolkit for Incorporating Food Waste in Municipal Climate Action Plans).
Together, these model resolutions and policies provide municipalities with tools to advance practical solutions that address food waste and lay the groundwork for lasting measures.
For more information and capacity-building resources, check out ELI’s Center for State and Local Governance homepage.