Senate OKs bill to divert organic waste
from landfill - Now it's time for the House to pass Donna Walsh's bill
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| Cathie and Donna team up to stop food waste from being landfilled |
STATE HOUSE – The Senate today approved legislation sponsored
by Sen. Catherine Cool Rumsey to require institutions that are large producers
of food scraps to dispose of them in a more environmentally friendly manner
than tossing them in the landfill.
The legislation (2014-S
2315Aaa) would require the institutions it affects to separate organic
waste including food scraps, food processing residue and soiled, nonrecyclable
paper from their trash and either compost it, arrange to have it used
agriculturally, such as for as animal feed, or have it processed by a
composting or anaerobic digesting facility.
The legislation is aimed at extending the limited life
of the state’s Central Landfill, currently on track to be filled by 2038, by
reducing the waste dumped there, harnessing the waste’s potential for
production of energy and organic fertilizer and giving a boost to Rhode
Island’s green economy.
“Organic materials make up a huge portion of our trash,
and if we could eliminate them, we’d get years more use out of the Central
Landfill,” said Senator Cool Rumsey (D-Dist. 34, Exeter, Charlestown, Richmond,
Hopkinton, West Greenwich). “Besides, why put them in the landfill when there
are ways they can be turned into something useful? Food scraps and other
organic materials can be used for animal feed, compost that enriches the soil
and even energy production. Not only can we reduce waste, but we can create
products and even green jobs this way. This bill is a chance to transform a
negative into a big positive for Rhode Island.”
At this time, there is only
one commercial-scale composting site in Rhode Island, in Charlestown, that
takes food scraps. However, a company called NEO Energy is working to establish an
anaerobic digestion facility in Quonset Business Park. The plant would accept
food waste from supermarkets, food-processing companies, restaurants,
institutions and municipalities, separate the biogases for use as a fuel to
generate electricity and heat, and recycle the remaining solids as organic
fertilizer. Similar plants are widespread in Europe and around the world,
especially in Germany. There are more than 1,600 such plants in the United
States, mainly located at wastewater treatment plants, although relatively few
use the biogas they produce to generate energy.
Although the requirements in the bill will not take
effect for an institution unless a facility with capacity to serve it is
available within 15 miles, once it does, using that facility is not the only
option. The law allows institutions to divert the waste for agricultural use,
or to process it onsite either by composting it in a way consistent with state
laws, or by using an onsite equipment to process the waste.
Johnson & Wales University is already diverting food
scraps in this way at its Harborside campus, diverting scraps from two of its
buildings – which include a student dining facility and JWU’s culinary training
programs – to food digesters that quickly convert it to compost that is used to
enrich soil and mulch. University officials estimate they had been generating
over 200 tons of food waste a year at each of the two buildings, and that it
made up about 85 percent of the waste there.
The bill will now head to the House of Representatives,
where Rep. Donna M. Walsh (D-Dist. 36, Charlestown, Westerly, South Kingstown,
New Shoreham) is sponsoring two similar bills (2014-H
7033, 2014-H
7482).