New York town launches food waste recycling program

Orangetown, New York, has launched a pilot program to collect food waste in hopes its residents, as well as the rest of Rockland County, will take part.

The town is working with the Rockland Green Solid Waste Authority on the initiative, which advocates say will help the environment by reducing waste and greenhouse gases while also saving money. As reported by the Rockland Journal News, an estimated 920 pounds of food scraps were collected last month for the program at the town’s Highway Department facility.

The program—inspired by a similar effort in Westchester County, New York—comes as a state law went into effect this year encouraging the recycling of food waste.

Known as the New York Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law, the legislation requires businesses and institutions that generate an annual average of two tons of wasted food per week to either donate excess edible food or recycle remaining food scraps if they are within 25 miles of an organics recycler.

Supervisors from other Rockland towns envision growing Orangetown’s program to the rest of the county in the future, with the possibility of someday adding regular residential collections.

However, officials say they need residents to buy into the pilot program.

While the town and Rockland Green will provide the disposable, biodegradable bags required in the process for free, it will be the residents’ responsibility to separate the food waste from their other garbage and recyclables and drive the bagged waste to the Highway Department facility off Route 303 in Orangeburg.

The program has placed 15 green bins at the Highway Department facility to hold food waste brought by residents in the biodegradable bags, the Journal News reports. The waste is then transferred to the Rockland Co-Composting Facility, operated by Rockland Green. There, it is mixed with water sludge and other bio-solids. The process produces nutrient-rich compost for use on golf courses, flower gardens and landscaping projects.