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This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dive Brief:<\/p>\n The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is soliciting feedback on a plan to expand its food waste disposal ban<\/a>. First implemented in 2014 and expanded in 2022, the ban currently requires businesses and institutions that generate more than one-half ton of organic material a week to divert it from disposal. Dive Insight:<\/p>\n While Massachusetts was among the first states to institute a commercial organics diversion mandate, it has since been joined by the rest of New England. Most recently,\u00a0Maine became the 11th state to enact such a policy<\/a>, though it won’t kick in until 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n Independent research<\/a> has suggested Massachusetts\u2019 current organics diversion program was among the most effective state policies of its kind in the country through 2019. The state also released a report this summer that found the program had boosted revenues for the waste and recycling industry<\/a> in the state.<\/p>\n Massachusetts\u2019 organic waste diversion goal corresponds with a broader state target<\/a> to reduce waste disposal to 4 million tons per year by 2030. The state has exported a growing amount of its waste to other states in recent years, increasing costs and placing a greater focus on in-state diversion efforts.<\/p>\n As organic diversion requirements have expanded throughout the region, they\u2019ve helped Massachusetts keep food waste from disposal, Fischer said. Although the region\u2019s organics recycling infrastructure has grown over the last decade, MassDEP reports a need for more distributed capacity and expanded collection infrastructure to achieve its targets.<\/p>\n The state’s previous policies have returned measurable growth in organic waste diversion. Its initial 2014 ban was expected to divert between 100,000 to 300,000 additional tons of organic material per year in the state. When Massachusetts expanded the mandate in 2022, officials expected an additional 100,000 tons of organic material could also be captured by the recycling system.<\/p>\n The proposed expansion of the ban to all commercial businesses could include an exemption for “businesses with incidental food waste” such as medical offices or non-food retail businesses, as well as all schools. The residential element could also allow flexibility for municipalities to determine the structure of their diversion programs, such as creating food scrap drop-off locations rather than a curbside collection program.<\/p>\n
\nThe department is exploring requiring all commercial\u00a0generators to divert their organic material as early as Nov. 1, 2028, and expanding the diversion requirement to residents by Nov. 1, 2030, officials said during a presentation<\/a> last week.
\nJohn Fischer, deputy division director for solid waste materials management at MassDEP, cautioned those dates are the absolute earliest a requirement could go into effect. But he noted the state needed to reach more stakeholders and add capacity to achieve its goal of diverting 780,000 tons of organic waste annually by 2030.<\/p>\n