In Connecticut and beyond, rotting food is an issue. In landfills it generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
Reducing food waste is a small piece of a large puzzle: slowing down climate change. It's also part of how Connecticut is approaching a looming waste crisis.
This week, Gov. Ned Lamont and officials at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced more funding to take food out of the waste stream. The state will provide $7.5 million more for municipalities to implement waste diversion programs.
“With local options for solid waste disposal shrinking and the cost to dispose of waste out of state rising, this grant opportunity gives municipalities more control of their disposal costs and more creative options that are also good for the environment,” Lamont said in a statement.
The bond money was authorized last session to help with infrastructure projects, such as building compost facilities and upgrading transfer stations.
The state's trash issue became more pronounced when MIRA, a major waste-to-energy facility in Hartford, closed, reducing options to handle thousands of tons of garbage. Right now, 40% of Connecticut's waste is shipped hundreds of miles away to Pennsylvania and Ohio.
State officials say that's not sustainable. Jennifer Perry, chief of DEEP's materials management and compliance assurance bureau, said the state is likely to see additional loss of landfill capacity within the next 10 years.
Food scraps from the landfills make up about 22% of Connecticut’s residential garbage, according to recent state estimates.
About 2.5 million pounds of food scraps were diverted out of the waste stream through an initial round of waste diversion pilot programs.
Those 2022 grant recipients included curbside collection programs for food waste, and others allowing residents to drop off food waste at transfer stations. Madison, Kent, Bethel, Guilford, Woodbury and Middletown ended up making their programs permanent.
“This is one way to allow our residents and our municipalities to have a direct impact and to be able to reduce their impacts on the environment,” Perry said.
Looking forward
The latest investment comes on the heels of the state last month announcing the next recipients of $15 million in grants for a separate waste management program. It will allow municipalities and regional entities to develop small and medium size waste management infrastructure.
Of the 20 applications submitted, eight were selected, including two regional entities. Among the recipients is Coventry, which will receive $202,896 to develop a food waste diversion program.
“Our plans for food composting will save money with reduced transport costs and lower dumping fees,” Coventry Town Manager Jim Drumm said. “Environmentally, it will reduce the use of landfill space, and it will produce a quality compost product that we can provide to our residents for use in their yards and gardens.”
Stratford, Mansfield, Manchester and Greenwich also received state funds for their projects.
Larger municipalities, including New Haven, will also benefit. Mayor Justin Elicker said they plan to use over $3 million from the program to build a modern food scrap diversion sorting facility, which he says will help with the launch of residential curbside composting city-wide.
According to Project Drawdown, a science nonprofit which looks at accelerating climate solutions, food waste accounts for 8% of the world’s greenhouse emissions.
A proposed bill in Connecticut would require places like conference centers and supermarkets to have a policy for donating excess food.
Emma Cimino, deputy commissioner of DEEP’s Environmental Quality Branch, said it's important to take a comprehensive approach because the trash problem isn't going away.
“The first preference for tackling the waste crisis is to reduce the amount of waste in the first place,” Cimino said.
