By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI.org
News staff
New England's six
states are taking on food-scrap diversion in different ways. Massachusetts,
Vermont and New Hampshire all agree that this nutrient-rich material is too
valuable to be dumped into the waste stream, and even see it as an economic
engine.
Vermont has the most progressive take on food scrap,
envisioning it as a fuel for its farming sector and a valued “Vermont-made”
product, much like cheese and maple syrup. “We’re really working to connect
organics diversion to agriculture,” said Pat Sagui, director of the Composting Association of Vermont.
The main idea is to
get leftover food to either pantries or farms, where it can be used to feed the
hungry, or as livestock feed or fertilizer. The handling and processing of
organics is seen as a job creator, with an eye on alternative uses such as
helping create fuel for farm machinery or for heating greenhouses.
Vermont is the only
state in New England to include residential food scrap in its composting plan.
Large institutions start composting in 2014.
Massachusetts announced a commercial food-scrap ban in
July. The plan is still open to public comment, but if approved by the state
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), all businesses creating more than
a ton of food scrap weekly must donate it as reusable food, send its organic
scrap to a farm for animal feed, or send it to an anaerobic digester or
compost facility.
The 1-ton threshold is
expected to be lowered in the future to entice participation from smaller
businesses and from residents, but so far no lower levels for mandatory
composting have been announced. Large commercial facilities expected to
participate in the initial program include hospitals, universities, hotels,
large restaurants, supermarkets and food manufacturers. Half of the state’s
supermarkets already participate in a voluntary food-scrap collection program,
which began in 2006.
The state currently
has anaerobic food digesters on farms in Rutland and Sheffield. Pilot
facilities are underway at prisons in Shirley and Norfolk. Others composting
facilities under consideration are in Amherst, Dartmouth, Fall River, Deer
Island, Millbury and Boston. Ten new facilities are expected by 2016. The DEP
is helping with $ 4 million in grants and loans, with hopes of generating 50
megawatts of power from anaerobic digesters by 2020.
Connecticut passed its organics recycling law in 2011 and amended
it this year. Starting
in 2014, all businesses must divert food scrap if they generate more than 104
tons annually — provided there is a facility within 20 miles. Soiled and
unrecyclable paper must also be composted. Currently, more than 90 percent of
the state’s waste is processed at six incinerators.
There are no digesters
in the state yet, and only two large-scale and one smaller compost facility.
Loans and grants totaling $5 million are available to start new organic waste
processing operations, such as anaerobic digesters. So far, only one is
planned, but the site has yet to be determined. The law applies to commercial
operations such as resorts, conference centers, food makers and distributers,
wholesalers and supermarkets. There are no provisions for residential food-scrap
diversion.
“We’re going for the
industrial, commercial and institutional (food scrap) first, which is the
low-hanging fruit,” said K.C. Alexander, organics recycling specialist with the
Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.
Rhode Island has a handful of small pilot programs but no
ban on throwing food in the trash.
Providence is running three community
drop-off food-scrap collection hubs. There are proposals for commercial
waste-to-energy anaerobic digesters in Johnston and at the Quonset Industrial
Park in North Kingstown.
So far, no announcement has been made relating to a
statewide compost plan through legislation or the state Department of
Environmental Management (DEM). But the state is addressing food scraps as it
updates its long-term solid-waste plan.