In 2012 Vermont passed a universal recycling law, and the scrap ban is the last phase of that law. Vermont became the first state in the nation to enact a food waste ban. According to the state’s website “if it was once part of something alive, like a plant or animal, it does not belong in a landfill.”
The rule applies to individuals and businesses, including restaurants and grocery stores. How does not throwing scraps in the trash help with climate change? Food waste in landfills produces methane, which is a key driver of climate change.
Vermonters are encouraged to compost, feed scraps to chickens and other livestock, isolate waste for trash pickup or take the scraps to a designated drop off site. An added bonus to the rule is, without all of that waste going to the landfill, it frees up room for other objects that have nowhere else to go. The entire state of Vermont has only one working landfill so space is limited.
Research tells us that the average U.S. household wastes 31.9% of the food it buys, The USDA estimated about 219 pounds of food waste per person, per year, not counting retailers or restaurants
