The Maine Senate voted 20-12 in favor of the food scraps disposal ban, moving the state one step closer to becoming the final New England state to require commercial and industrial-scale food waste producers to donate their edible leftovers and recycle what remains. “This bill will divert food waste from landfills within the state of Maine,” said Sen. Stacy Brenner, D-Scarborough, the Senate chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee that worked the bill. “Currently 40% of municipal waste in the state is food waste.”
The House approved L.D. 1009, a bill introduced by Rep. Stanley Zeigler, D-Montville, 75-64 last month. Although approved by both chambers, the bill has not yet been funded. It would require about $550,000 to $600,000 a year to pay the staff needed to regulate and monitor a food waste disposal program. It is up to the appropriations committee to decide whether to fund the bill.
Environmental groups applauded the bill’s quick and relatively painless legislative endorsement, noting its importance to the state’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Food scraps play a central role in the production of methane, which is 80 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.