A new state law aims to combat both climate change and hunger. It was prompted by some statistics that residents might contemplate while pulling moldy “science experiments” from the fridge or deciphering use-by dates on packaged food. Organic matter makes up 23% of the materials going into Washington’s landfills. For residential trash alone, the figure is 33%. That is largely food waste, most of which was edible when it was tossed out. Meanwhile, nearly one in nine residents may not know where their next meal is coming from.
Decomposing food releases methane, a heat-trapping gas that is 25 times as potent as the carbon dioxide that spews from tailpipes. Each year, the state’s landfills produce emissions equivalent to the annual exhaust of 320,000 cars. “Food waste is the largest landfill component by tonnage. It’s heavy. And we have hungry people,” said Cheryl Sullivan, the Washington Department of Ecology manager who oversees implementation of the 2022 Organics Management Law.
The big, complex law will eventually change food waste collection and disposal statewide. It was passed by Democrats on a party-line vote. Costing $6.83 million over six years, it amends or adds sections to multiple existing laws. Besides Ecology, it involves the Conservation Commission, Department of Agriculture, Department of Enterprise Services, counties and cities, residential and non-residential customers. Using 2015 as a baseline, the law aims to cut landfill-disposed organic material by 75% by 2030, and, by 2025, cut the amount of landfilled edible food by 20%. Other organic materials, including inedible food and yard waste, will be processed at composting facilities, anaerobic digesters, or used for vermiculture (worm-based composting) and emerging technologies.