Food Waste Intiative: Publications

Model Policies, Ordinances, and Toolkits:

These model policies, ordinances and toolkits provide off-the-shelf templates that are intended to reduce the transaction costs for resource-strapped municipalities of taking action to reduce food waste.

• Model Ordinance Establishing a Pay-As-You-Throw Program for Residential Municipal Solid Waste (November 2023) (co-authored with NRDC)
• A Toolkit for Implementing Share Tables in Municipal Schools (September 2023)
• ELI created the Food Waste Prevention Resource Guide Series (funded by Urban Green Lab with support from the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh) to provide ready-to-use, vetted, and science-based resources for classrooms, households, and workplaces (August 2023). The Guides provide a range of resources, such as lessons plans and research reports, on specific food waste prevention strategies, including: 
  • Date Labels;
  • Packaging Design and Use;
  • Meal Prepping and Kits;
  • Plate and Portion Size; and
  • Storage and Freezing. 
  • See also these additional resources:
    • Full Food Waste Prevention Resource Guide Series (all five guides combined); and
    • Slide Deck on the Resource Guide Series, presented at EPA's Too Good to Waste Peer Network Call.
• Model Executive Order on Municipal Leadership on Food Waste Reduction (July 2023) (co-authored with NRDC)
• Model Ordinance on Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators With Commentaries (July 2022) (co-authored with NRDC)
  • Model Ordinance on Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators Without Commentaries 
  • Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators: Background Memorandum
  • Slide Deck for Model Ordinance on Mandatory Reporting for Large Food Waste Generators – ELI and NRDC can work with individual municipalities to customize this presentation upon request.
• A Toolkit for Incorporating Food Waste in Municipal Climate Action Plans (July 2021)
• Model Compost Procurement Policy With Commentaries (July 2021) (co-authored with NRDC) 
  • Model Compost Procurement Policy Without Commentaries
  • Slide Deck for Model Compost Procurement Policy – ELI and NRDC can work with individual municipalities to customize this presentation upon request.

The following materials were developed in ELI’s capacity as the former Project Director for NRDC’s pilot initiative (2015-2021) and Senior Strategic Advisor (with NRDC) to Urban Green Lab’s Nashville Food Waste Initiative.  

Reports, Articles, Factsheets:

• Mayor Cooper's Sustainability Advisory Committee Report on Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County's Climate Change Mitigation Action Plan (April 2021)  
• Landscape Analysis of Community Composting in Nashville (February 2020)
• Real Benefits Fostering Food Scrap Recycling, The Environmental Forum (May/June 2019)
• Landscape Analysis of Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Food Scrap Recycling in Nashville (March 2019)
  • Landscape Analysis of ICI Food Scrap Recycling in Nashville: Executive Summary
• Food Waste Restaurant Challenge Guide, NRDC Food Matters (January 2019) (contributing author) 
• Nashville Food Rescue Landscape Analysis (October 2017)
• Packaging Best Practices for Prepared Food Donation (n.d.) (co-authored with NRDC) 
• Food Donation Guidelines for Licensed Food Facilities (n.d.) (co-authored with NRDC) 

Organics Disposal Bans and Organics Processing Infrastructure:

Report & Webinars:

• Food Scrap Recycling: Opportunities and Realities of Anaerobic Digestion, ELI (April 8, 2021)
• Food Life Cycle: Effectiveness of food Scrap Recycling Mandates and Landfill Bans, ELI (February 2021)
• New England Organics Disposal Bans and Processing Infrastructure, BioCycle (September 2017, Part I and November 2017, Part II)

Food Waste Co-Digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities: Business Case Analysis:

Report and Toolkit:

• Food Waste Co-Digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities: Business Case Analysis (December 2019)

Snapshots: 

• Oneida County Water Pollution Control Plant NY (February 2021)
• Hermitage Municipal Authority PA (January 2021)
• East Bay Municipal Utility District CA (December 2020)

Case Studies: 

• Central Marin Sanitation Agency CA (January 2021)
• Derry Township Municipal Authority PA  (January 2021)
• Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts CA (January 2021)
• Stevens Point Public Utilities Department WI (January 2021)

Articles:

• Innovations in Sourcing Food Scraps for Codigestion (Part I); Solid Waste Partners Drive WRRF Food Scrap Sourcing (Part II), Biocycle (March 2021)
• Food Waste Co-digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities: Evaluating the Business Case Can Identify Benefits to the Triple-Bottom-Line, WE&T (March 2020)
• Successful Business Strategies for Codigestion at WRRFs, BioCycle (November/December 2019)

Webinars:

• Shifting Water Resource Recovery Facilities to a Circular Economy Business Model, ISWA World Congress, Greece (October 2021) 

• Business Cases for WRRF Co-Digestion of Food Waste: Lessons Learned, WRF Research Seminar (April 2020)

Food Waste Initiative Research Brief Series:

ELI’s Food Waste Initiative is publishing a Research Brief Series to present takeaways from the Initiative’s research, spanning a range of topics important to food waste prevention, recovery, and recycling.

• State and City Food Waste Reduction Goals: Context, Best Practices, and Precedents (January 2024)
• An Overview of Hands-on Resources for Hosting Accessible Events (May 2023)
• An Overview of Multilingual Outreach, Translation, and Language Justice Resources (June 2022)
• Social Science Literature Review on Value of Measuring and Reporting on Food Waste (May 2022)

Other Publications & Documents:

• Nashville Food Waste Prevention Week Event Slide Deck (April 2024)
• ELI Comments on EPA's Waste Reduction Model (WARM) v16 (March 2024)
• ELI Comments on EPA's Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics (February 2024)
  • Comment #1: Model Ordinances and Other Forms of Capacity-Building
  • Comment #2: Improving Waste-Sector GHG Emissions Accounting
• Food Scrap Recycling with Anaerobic Digestion: Opportunities and Realities, The Environmental Law Reporter (July 2021) 
• State and Local Efforts to Divert Organic Waste Steadily Advance, The Environmental Forum (January/February 2022)
• Pollution Prevention and Rethinking "Waste", The Environmental Law Reporter (June 2019)
• Mulch Ado About Waste Handling: Community Composting Takes Off, The Environmental Forum July/August 2018)
• Reducing Disposable Plastic Bags in Food Stores and Other Outlets, The Environmental Forum (March/April 2017)
• Food Law Is the Next Great Area for Environmental Litigation, The Environmental Forum (January/February 2016)
• States, Cities Take on Food Waste, The Environmental Forum (March/April 2015)