MA Is Chomping Down on Food Waste
Hey Smart Recyclers,
Good news, everybody! Massachusetts has been recognized as a “national leader” for the progress we’ve made in keeping food waste out of the trash!🥳
Did you know that approximately 930,000 tons of food waste is trashed in MA every year? In fact, food waste – which includes both wasted food (stuff we don’t eat) and food scraps (what’s left after we eat) – makes up about 22% of what we throw away each year. You’ve heard this from us before, but … that’s a lot of good stuff going to waste!
This month, we’re focusing on the state’s plan to keep more food waste out of the trash and why that’s such a good thing.
For a refresher on why keeping food waste out of the trash is such a big dill (😉), check out our It’s Thyme to Talk Organics newsletter from 2021.
Go Big or Go Home
Back in 2021, via the 2030 Solid Waste Master Plan, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) set an ambitious goal to increase the annual tons of food waste diverted from the trash from 280,000 to 780,000 by 2030. Our most recent data on food waste diversion come from 2023. That year, we diverted 380,000 tons from the trash – an increase of 100,000 tons from our 2018 baseline.
Do we have a lot of work ahead of us to reach our goal? Yes. Yes, we do. But we like to say, “go big or go home!” For comparison, back in 2014, we were only diverting 100,000 tons of food waste annually. So, we’ve made genuine progress. 📈
We’re Blazing a New Trail
You might be wondering how we’re planning to achieve our goals given that people aren’t going to buy or eat less food in 2030 than they do now. Well, it all started back in 2014, when MassDEP established its first-in-the-nation waste ban on food material. The waste ban applied specifically to businesses and institutions that generated 1 or more tons (2,000 pounds) of food waste per week. This meant that about 2,000 restaurants, hotels, hospitals, universities, and supermarkets had to figure out new ways to manage wasted food and food scraps.
To help businesses and institutions comply with the waste bans, MassDEP developed the RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts program, which provides free technical assistance. In the case of the food waste ban, RecyclingWorks connects businesses with food rescue organizations as well as compost, animal feed, and anaerobic digestion facilities. They even do on-site visits, helping businesses figure out how to set up their back-of-house operations to effectively and efficiently rescue wasted food and/or divert food scraps from the trash.
By 2022, the capacity for food scrap collection and food rescue had grown significantly. Facilities across the state were ready to take on more material, and there was strong public support to lower the threshold of the ban so we could keep even more food waste out of the trash. So, in 2022, after some deliberation and planning, MassDEP amended the waste ban and lowered the threshold from 2,000 pounds per week to 1,000 pounds per week. This increased the number of businesses affected by the waste ban to about 4,000!
Earlier this year, the MassDEP commissioned a study on the economic impacts of the food waste bans. The report showed that while there are challenges for businesses complying with the waste ban (like finding local outlets, making space to collect food separately from the trash, and training employees), finding ways to divert food waste helped them save money by reducing disposal and purchasing costs. Plus, the waste ban has led to job creation and other economic benefits in the organics industry – that’s a W.
Other studies have shown that Massachusetts’ waste ban has resulted in more food waste diversion than any other state with similar regulations! Boom goes the dynamite. 🧨💥
Where Does All the Food Go?
We’re so glad you asked! Some stores, like the Medford Whole Foods Market, work with local food donation and rescue organizations to distribute extra food to people in need. They do this by taking inventory of surplus food, packing it up, and giving it to organizations that deliver it to food banks, senior centers, homeless shelters, etc.
Perishables like fresh produce are transported in coolers to keep them temperature-controlled until distributed.
Others, like UMass Amherst, have taken a more reductionist approach. They’ve altered their purchasing to reduce wasted food, make smaller plates to avoid lots of discarded leftovers, donate extra food to local shelters, and collect food scraps on campus to be composted at a local farm.
Restaurants, like those that banded together in the Town of Lenox, collect food scraps and work with a local hauler to send them to a farm for composting.
Many other businesses and institutions send their separated food scraps to anaerobic digestion facilities, which convert food and other organic materials into clean energy.
Want to hear how other businesses are keeping food out of the trash? Watch our Food Rescue in MA webinar from last year’s Recycle-Palooza.
Have I Been Doing Something Wrong?
Wondering if you were supposed to be separating food waste from your trash for the last 11 years? Don’t fret! The waste bans are for businesses, not individual residents.
Having said that, taking food out of the trash just makes sense, and some Massachusetts cities and towns are taking it upon themselves to get in on the action. Case in point: In 2019, 62 communities had a food waste collection program. Five years later, that number jumped to 160! That jump in participation has led to a tremendous increase in food waste diversion. In 2019, municipalities reported diverting a little over 6,000 tons of food from the trash. In 2024, the number was 21,000 tons!
A look at Dover’s food waste collection set-up.
Want a Pizza the Action?
If you’re fired up and want to be part of the food waste diversion revolution, here are some tips to get started:
- Get familiar with your community’s food waste collection program. They look different depending on where you live. Here are some examples of what we’ve seen:
- Food scrap containers in public spaces for easy access.
- Municipal curbside collection in a separate cart alongside trash and recycling.
- Private hauler or “preferred vendor” curbside collection in a separate cart or bucket.
- Research compost companies to see if they service your area.
- Start composting at home. Some cities and towns sell home compost bins to residents at a discounted rate and have educational resources to help you get started.
- Check out the resources on SavetheFood.com to learn how to meal plan and buy only what you need when grocery shopping. By throwing away less food, a family of four could save almost $3,000 every year.
- Use Too Good to Go, an app that helps you save good food from local restaurants and grocery stores (and money too!).
✨It’s almost time for Recycle-Palooza!✨
We’re gearing up for this year’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Palooza webinars! Let us know what you want to learn about by taking our short survey.
Partner Spotlight: City of Medford
📷: City of Medford
Speaking of compost collection programs, the City of Medford just got an award for theirs! The city won the 2025 Environmental Leadership Award for Outstanding Community from the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC), a nonprofit that helps states across the Northeast work together to reduce waste. Congrats, Medford!
The city’s curbside composting program is free to residents who opt in, and they get equipped with a bin and trusty how-to guide. After a little over a year, the program is serving about 7,000 households! That number continues to climb, and the city plans to expand the program to all eligible residents over the next few years (call us impressed! 😁).
Pick-up services are provided by Garbage to Garden, a curbside compost service that gathers residents’ food waste and brings it to local farms. There, it’s transformed into a nutrient-rich material that feeds soil (aka finished compost). Residents can then buy back the finished compost and add it to their garden or yard. It’s a scrap to root loop. 🥕🌱🔁
Learn more about the program and what happens to collected scraps.
📚What We’re Reading
- Efforts to Reduce Food Waste in Massachusetts Inspire Innovation and Community Action – WGBH
- Avoiding Fines: How to Stay Compliant with Massachusetts Recycling Bans – Miller Recycling Corporation
- 4-Alarm Onset Fire Most Likely Started with Lithium-Ion Batteries – Mass Department of Fire Services
- Closed Loop Report Shows Results of State Bag Bans – Resource Recycling
Have a gourd-geous fall!
The Recycle Smart MA Team at MassDEP