ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND
SOLID WASTE COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY, No. 2090
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: MARCH 4, 2024
The Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste
Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 2090.
This bill would require each solid waste management district in the
State (i.e., each county and the Hackensack Meadowlands District) to
develop, as part of its district solid waste management plan, a strategy
to reduce food waste in the district.
Specifically, this bill would require each solid waste management
district to develop and implement a strategy for reducing, by the year
2030, the amount of food waste generated annually in the district by at
least 50 percent of the amount which is generated in the year this bill is
enacted into law. The strategy would be adopted as an amendment to
each district’s solid waste management plan and subject to the
approval of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
The bill would require the DEP to develop, and publish on its
Internet website, a list of measures solid waste management districts
can take in order to achieve the food waste reduction requirement
established in the bill. These measures would include actions to
prevent food waste and increase the donation of surplus edible food,
the source separation and recycling of food waste, the composting and
anaerobic digestion of food waste and other food waste diversion
methods that also reduce methane emissions, and public awareness
campaigns.
This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 2024-2025 session
pending technical review. As reported, the bill includes the changes
required by technical review, which has been performed.