ILSR’s Composting for Community policy team has once again worked with Delegate Regina T. Boyce (District 43, Baltimore City) to introduce the Solid Waste Disposal Surcharge and Wasted Food Reduction and Diversion Fund and Grant Programs Bill (HB 42) for Maryland’s 2025 legislative session. The bill is cross-filed in the Senate (SB 134) by Senator Katie Fry Hester (District 9, Howard and Montgomery Counties). 2025 is this bill’s fourth round in the Maryland legislature. Earlier versions of this bill included HB1070 (2022), HB1139 (2023), and HB1318 (2024).
Sustainable funding for wasted food reduction and recovery needs your support.
Ask your representatives to support this bill!
In Maryland, the grants could total more than $14 million per year to support local governments, small businesses, non-profits, farmers, schools, and more in their efforts to advance wasted food prevention, rescue, recycling, and composting projects and infrastructure.
The bill addresses the critical need for investment into wasted food reduction and recovery programs and infrastructure in Maryland by establishing major grant funding programs funded by a nominal $2/ton surcharge on waste disposal. Numerous other states, such as those featured in our 2022 webinar, have similar successful funding programs in place with positive impacts on their local communities, economies, and the environment.
Download a one-page summary of the bill here
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Why is funding for reduction and diversion of wasted food needed NOW in Maryland?
- Maryland has mandated increased demand for access to and capacity for alternatives to food waste disposal. Expanded processing capacity is needed to meet food waste diversion goals and, without this support for community-oriented and farm projects, Maryland will miss out on this opportunity to support local economies and keep organic materials circulating within Maryland’s many diverse communities.
- A major obstacle to development and expansion of food waste reduction, rescue, and diversion infrastructure and programs is lack of funding.
- The Maryland Food Systems Resiliency Council’s 2024 report to the General Assembly calls for investment in cold storage, organics recycling of food residuals, food residual diversion sites and programs, and education and technical assistance to support reduction of food waste, funded by a disposal surcharge.
- Maryland has passed numerous policies supporting healthy soils, food waste recovery, recycling, and composting but funding to support effective development of these efforts is sorely lacking. A nominal per-ton waste surcharge will provide funding to support and expand food waste reduction and diversion throughout the state while also disincentivizing final solid waste disposal in landfills and incinerators.
- Expansion of composting and organics recycling infrastructure and the availability of high-quality, non-contaminated compost is crucial to supporting Maryland soils by reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers, increasing soil organic matter, and improving water and nutrient cycling.
- A 2021 report revealed that Maryland landfills were emitting four times more methane than previously estimated. Diverting organic waste from landfills, where anaerobic decomposition produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is a necessity for Maryland to achieve its goals of 60% emissions reductions by 2031 and net-zero in 2045.
Bill Refinements Since 2022
Since the bill’s first introduction in the 2022 session, there have been a number of changes based on conversations with numerous stakeholders to address their concerns and/or suggestions to improve this bill. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) has gathered input from numerous stakeholders in order to tailor this bill to fit Maryland’s unique landscape. Some of these stakeholders include the Maryland Association of Counties, Prince George’s County Department of the Environment, Maryland Clean Water Action, US Composting Council’s Maryland-DC Chapter, and others. ILSR collaborated extensively with the Maryland Department of Environment and Department of Agriculture to ensure the bill fills programmatic gaps and is implementable by the agencies.
As a result of these collaborations, major changes include:
- Dropping the per-ton surcharge on waste landfilled or incinerated from an original $5/ton to $2/ton.
- Focusing resources specifically on food waste reduction and diversion.
- Allocating 50% of funding as block grants to Counties (including Baltimore City and the Mid-Shore), distributed annually in amounts proportional to each County’s population, for expenditure on projects that reduce, reuse, and divert wasted food.
- Allocating the remaining funding equally between the Wasted Food Reduction Grant Program (administered by MDE) and the On-Farm Organics Diversion Grant Program (administered by MDA).
- Increasing the limit on funding to be used for administrative costs for all grants programs from 10% to 25%.
- Updating the implementation timeline to better align with existing agency processes and to allow for the agencies to avoid out-of-pocket costs when setting up the grant programs.
Status Updates:
- HB 42 was heard in the House Committee on Environment and Transportation on January 29th. Watch the recording here.
- SB 134 was heard in the Senate Committee on Education, Energy, and the Environment on February 11th. Watch the recording here.
- ILSR’s testimony letter has received 44 organizational sign-ons to date.
