Two new bills targeted at combating food waste are in the works in New York City Council. The first, Int. 1439, sponsored by Councilman Antonio Reynoso, would impose stricter regulations on the process of confiscating food from vendors who violate city law. The second, Int. 1514, sponsored by Councilman Rafael Espinal, would require the city to maintain a web portal to facilitate food donations.
The goal of Int. 1439 is to ensure that confiscated edible food does not end up landfills. The New York City Police Department often confiscates food from food vendors who are violating city law, such as blocking sidewalks or selling food in unapproved locations. Int. 1439 would require the Department of Health or the Department of Sanitation to notify at least two food rescue organizations, such as City Harvest or Food Bank for New York City, that there is usable food available for pick-up, whenever food is confiscated, and at least 24 hours before the confiscated food is thrown away.
Int. 1514 proposes that the Department of Sanitation and the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications maintain a web portal, similar to Craigslist, where prospective food donors and recipients can communicate and arrange to pick up food donations. Councilman Reynoso, who serves as the chair of the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste, said both of these bills are ideas that could help New York City reach its goal of producing zero waste by 2030.
It is difficult to measure precisely how much food waste a large city produces, because different agencies may use different calculation methods. According to Bridget Anderson, Deputy Commission of the Department of Sanitation’s Bureau of Recycling and Sustainability, New York City currently produces about 1.5 million tons of food waste per year, which equates to one quarter of the city’s solid waste. However, it is unclear how much of that food waste would be safe for human consumption if it was not thrown away.
In her testimony on the bills before the City Council Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, Jackie Odman, Secretary of the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB), applauded the effort to minimize food waste by feeding people, but also said there is a need to collect data on exactly how much edible food is currently wasted.
With roughly 16 percent of New York residents experiencing hunger, there is clearly a need to divert usable food to charities that feed New Yorkers, rather than to landfills. However, until the city knows what percentage of its organic waste is edible, the value of food waste reduction programs remains unclear.
Because the bills are still in the nascent stages, there is currently no estimate of how much they will cost to implement. But Deputy Commissioner Anderson said in her testimony that money would be better spent improving the already operational donateNYC portal, rather than developing an entirely new portal. The donateNYC portal provides a place where individuals, businesses and non-profits can either give or find goods, including food, clothing, furniture, books, medical supplies, and many other items.
Anderson also said more time was needed to determine how to improve the DonateNYC portal in a way that works for both the city and the food rescue organizations that operate within it. The current draft of Int. 1514 sets a six month deadline, which Anderson said was not feasible.
David DeVaughn, Manager of Policy & Government Relations at City Harvest, echoed Anderson’s desire for the proposed legislation to take advantage of infrastructure that is already in place, rather than creating entirely new infrastructure. For example, the New York City Food Assistance Collaborative is already discussing ways in which technology can be used to distribute food equitably throughout the city.
To read the full story, visit http://www.nycfoodpolicy.org/nycs-proposed-food-waste-bills-matter/.