HB2524 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 25814 CPF 52165 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB2524

Introduced 2/15/2023, by Rep. Sonya M. Harper

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

415 ILCS 5/22.34a new
30 ILCS 105/5.990 new

Amends the Environmental Protection Act. Presents the findings of the General Assembly. Establishes a goal of the State to reduce by 50% the amount of food waste generated annually by 2030. Provides that the goal includes reducing the amount of edible food that is wasted. Provides that, by October 1, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Public Health, must develop and adopt a State Wasted Food Reduction and Food Waste Diversion Plan designed to achieve the goal. Provides requirements for the Plan. Creates the Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Litter Control Fund to be used for specified purposes regarding litter and food waste reduction. Makes a conforming change in the State Finance Act. Contains other provisions. Effective January 1, 2024.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning safety.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Environmental Protection Act is amended by adding Section 22.34a as follows:

(415 ILCS 5/22.34a new)

Sec. 22.34a. Food waste reduction.

(a) The General Assembly finds that:

(1) The wasting of food represents a misuse of resources, including the water, land, energy, labor, and capital that go into growing, harvesting, processing, transporting, and retailing food for human consumption. Wasting edible food occurs all along the food production supply chain and reducing the waste of edible food is a goal that can be achieved only with the collective efforts of growers, processors, distributors, retailers, consumers of food, and food banks and related charities. Inedible food waste can be managed in ways that reduce negative environmental impacts and provide beneficial results to the land, air, soil, and energy infrastructure. Efforts to reduce the waste of food and expand the diversion of food waste to beneficial end uses will also require the mindful support of government policies that shape the behavior and waste reduction opportunities of each of those participants in the food supply chain.

(2) Every year, American consumers, businesses, and farms spend billions of dollars growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten. That represents tens of millions of tons of food sent to landfills annually, plus millions of tons more that are discarded or left unharvested on farms. Worldwide, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that if one-fourth of the food lost or wasted globally could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people. Meanwhile, one in 8 Americans is food insecure, including one in 6 children. Recent data indicates that Illinois is not immune to food waste problems, and recent estimates indicate that 17% of all garbage sent to Illinois disposal facilities is food waste, including 8% that is food that was determined to be edible at the time of disposal. In recognition of the widespread benefits that would accrue from reductions in food waste, in 2015, the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture announced a national goal of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030. The Pacific Coast Collaborative recently agreed to a similar commitment of halving food waste by 2030, including efforts to prevent, rescue, and recover wasted food.

(3) By establishing State wasted food reduction goals and developing a State wasted food reduction strategy, it is the intent of the General Assembly to continue its national leadership in solid waste reduction efforts by:

(A) improving efficiencies in the food production and distribution system in order to reduce the cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions associated with wasted food;

(B) fighting hunger by more efficiently diverting surplus food to feed hungry individuals and families in need; and

(C) supporting expansion of management facilities for inedible food waste to improve access and facility performance while reducing the volumes of food that flow through those facilities.

(b) In this Section:

"Food waste" means waste from fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products, fish, shellfish, nuts, seeds, grains, and similar materials that results from the storage, preparation, cooking, handling, selling, or serving of food for human consumption.

"Food waste" includes, but is not limited to, excess, spoiled, or unusable food and inedible parts commonly associated with food preparation such as pits, shells, bones, and peels. "Food waste" does not include animal excrement or dead animals not intended for human consumption.

"Fund" means the Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Litter Control Fund.

"Plan" means the State Wasted Food Reduction and Food Waste Diversion Plan developed and adopted under subsection (e).

"Prevention" means avoiding the wasting of food, which represents the greatest potential for cost savings and environmental benefits for businesses, governments, and consumers.

"Recovery" means processing inedible food waste to extract value from it through composting, anaerobic digestion, or use as animal feedstock.

"Rescue" means the redistribution of surplus edible food to other consumers.

"Wasted food" means the edible portion of food waste.

(c) A goal is established for the State to reduce by 50% the amount of food waste generated annually by 2030, relative to 2015 levels. A subset of this goal must include a prevention goal to reduce the amount of edible food that is wasted.

(d) The Agency may estimate 2015 levels of wasted food in Illinois using any combination of solid waste reporting data obtained under this Act and surveys and studies measuring wasted food and food waste in other jurisdictions. For the purposes of measuring progress toward the goal under subsection (c), the Agency must adopt standardized metrics and processes for measuring or estimating volumes of wasted food and food waste generated in the State.

(e) By October 1, 2024, the Agency, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Public Health, must develop and adopt a State Wasted Food Reduction and Food Waste Diversion Plan designed to achieve the goal established under subsection (c). The Plan must comply with all of the following:

(1) The Plan must include strategies, in descending order of priority, to:

(A) prevent and reduce the wasting of edible food by residents and businesses;

(B) help match and support the capacity for edible food that would otherwise be wasted with food banks and other distributors that will ensure the food reaches those who need it; and

(C) support productive uses of inedible food materials, including use for animal feed, energy production through anaerobic digestion, or other commercial uses, and for off-site or on-site management systems, including composting, vermicomposting, or other biological systems.

(2) The Plan must:

(A) recommend a regulatory environment that optimizes activities and processes to rescue safe, nutritious, edible food;

(B) recommend a funding environment in which stable, predictable resources are provided to wasted food prevention and rescue and food waste recovery activities in such a way as to allow the development of additional capacity and the use of new technologies;

(C) avoid placing burdensome regulations on the hunger relief system, and ensure that organizations involved in wasted food prevention and rescue and food waste recovery retain discretion to accept or reject donations of food when appropriate;

(D) provide State technical support to wasted food prevention and rescue and food waste recovery organizations;

(E) support the development and distribution of equitable materials to support food waste and wasted food educational and programmatic efforts in K-12 schools, in collaboration with the State Board of Education, and aligned with Illinois science and social studies learning standards; and

(F) facilitate and encourage restaurants and other retail food establishments to safely donate food to food banks and food assistance programs through education and outreach regarding safe food donation opportunities, practices, and benefits.

(3) The Plan must include suggested best practices that local governments may incorporate into solid waste management plans.

(4) The Agency must solicit feedback from the public and interested stakeholders throughout the process of developing and adopting the Plan. To assist with its Plan development responsibilities, the Agency may designate a stakeholder advisory panel. If the Agency designates a stakeholder advisory panel, it must consist of local government health departments, local government solid waste departments, food banks, hunger-focused nonprofit organizations, waste-focused nonprofit organizations, K-12 public education, and food businesses or food business associations.

(5) The Agency must identify the sources of scientific, economic, or other technical information it relies upon in developing the Plan required under this subsection, including peer-reviewed science.

In conjunction with the Plan, the Agency, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Public Health must consider recommending changes to State statutory or administrative laws or rules, including changes to relevant food quality, labeling, and inspection requirements and the donation of food waste or wasted food for animals, in order to achieve the goal established under subsection (c). Any such recommendations must be explained via a report to the General Assembly on or before December 1, 2024. Prior to any implementation of the Plan, for the activities, programs, or policies in the Plan that would impose new obligations on State agencies, local governments, businesses, or citizens, the report must outline any recommended changes to State statutory or administrative laws or rules in the Plan. This outline must include the Agency's or the appropriate State agency's plan to make recommendations for any identified changes to statutory laws or administrative rules. In combination with any identified statutory or administrative rule changes, the Agency or the appropriate State agency must include expected cost estimates for government entities and private persons or businesses to comply with any recommended changes.

In support of the development of the Plan, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity must contract for an independent evaluation of the State's food waste and wasted food management system.

(f) The Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Litter Control Fund is created as a special fund in the State treasury. Moneys in the Fund may be spent only after being appropriated. Expenditures from the Fund shall be as follows:

(1) 50% to the Agency, primarily for use by the Agency, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Revenue, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Corrections for litter collection programs. The amount to the Agency shall also be used:

(A) for a central coordination function for litter control efforts statewide;

(B) to support employment of youth in litter cleanup and for litter pick-up using other authorized agencies; and

(C) for statewide public awareness programs.

The amount to the Agency under this paragraph (1) shall also be used to defray the costs of administering the funding, coordination, and oversight of local government programs for waste reduction, litter control, recycling, and composting so that local governments can apply 100% of their funding to achieving program goals. The amount provided to the Department of Revenue shall be used to enforce compliance with any applicable litter taxes.

(2) 20% to the Agency for unit of local government programs for waste reduction, litter control, recycling activities, and composting activities by cities and counties, to be administered by the Agency.

(3) Any unspent funds under paragraph (2) may be used (i) to create and pay for a matching fund competitive grant program to be used by units of local government for the development and implementation of contamination reduction and outreach plans for inclusion in comprehensive solid waste management plans or (ii) by units of local government and nonprofit organizations for local or statewide education programs designed to help the public with litter control, waste reduction, recycling, and composting. Recipients under this paragraph (3) shall include programs to reduce wasted food and food waste that are designed to achieve the goal established under subsection (c) and that are consistent with the Plan developed under subsection (e). Grants under this paragraph (3) must adhere to the following requirements:

(A) No grant may exceed $60,000.

(B) Grant recipients shall match the grant funding allocated by the Agency by an amount equal to 25% of eligible expenses. A unit of local government's share of these costs may be met by contributing cash or services.

(C) The obligation of the Agency to make grant payments is contingent upon the availability of the amount of money appropriated for paragraph (2).

(D) Grants must be managed under the Agency's guidelines for existing grant programs.

(E) Funding programs to collect yard waste and food waste, if the unit of local government submitting the plan finds that there are adequate markets or capacity for composted yard waste and food waste within or near a service area to consume the majority of the material collected.

Each comprehensive solid waste management plan submitted under this paragraph shall include a waste reduction and recycling element with waste reduction strategies, which may include strategies to reduce wasted food and food waste that are designed to achieve the goal established under subsection (c) and that are consistent with the Plan developed under subsection (e).

(4) 30% to the Agency to:

(A) implement activities for waste reduction, recycling, and composting efforts;

(B) provide technical assistance to local governments and commercial businesses to increase recycling markets and recycling and composting programs designed to educate citizens about waste reduction, litter control, and recyclable and compostable products and programs;

(C) increase access to waste reduction, composting, and recycling programs, particularly for food packaging, plastic bags, or appropriate composting techniques; and

(D) fund programs to reduce wasted food and food waste that are designed to achieve the goals established under subsection (c) and that are consistent with the Plan developed under subsection (e).

Section 10. The State Finance Act is amended by adding Section 5.990 as follows:

(30 ILCS 105/5.990 new)

Sec. 5.990. The Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Litter Control Fund.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2024.