Read the full resolution here: Resolution in Support of New York State Proposal to Increase Food Waste Recycling and Edible Leftover Food Recovery

Copied from Highlights of the March 21, 2017 meeting of the Tompkins County Legislature

State Proposal Endorsed to Increase Food Waste Recycling and Edible Leftover Food Recovery

The Legislature, without dissent (Legislator Peter Stein was excused) voiced support of Governor Cuomo’s proposal to require large-scale generators of food waste to donate and recycle excess food, in alignment with a federal “Good Samaritan Food Donation Act.”  The measure notes that keeping food waste out of landfills and instead using it for compost or energy recovery is a beneficial outcome environmentally and economically, and that the County’s Recycling and Materials Management Department already implements programs to reduce and recycle food waste and is gearing up to recover even more, and that edible leftover food is also best to keep out of landfills and instead be used to feed people, with the local Friendship Donations Network rerouting nearly half-a-million pounds of food each year, distributing it to people in need.

 Former County Legislator Mike Koplinka-Loehr, a member of the Friendship Donation Network, spoke to the Legislature in support of the measure, saying that the organization helps to save healthy food from landfills, and redistributes it to people in need.  He thanked the Legislature for its support of these kinds of organizations.