The General Assembly has approved legislation sponsored by Rep. Lauren H. Carson and Sen. Bridget Valverde to strengthen a state law aimed at keeping school cafeteria food waste out of the landfill.
The bill, which now goes to the governor, requires all school food service contracts to include provisions mandating the composting or recycling of organic waste, and requires public disclosure of schools’ waste audits detailing their efforts to reduce waste, recycle and divert usable food to the community. It also provides a framework for “share tables,” already used in many cafeterias, where students leave unopened food they don’t want so others may eat it.
The measure amends a 2021 law, also sponsored by Carson and Valverde, that encouraged but did not require schools to compel food vendors to recycle or compost waste and did not mandate public disclosure of audits.
“Requiring food waste diversion in food service contracts is a critical step toward finally implementing this strategy across the state after years of slow-rolling it,” said Carson, a Newport Democrat. She said the added transparency would produce real data on the program’s impact and called it “low-hanging fruit in terms of policy changes we can adopt to protect our limited landfill space.”
Valverde, a North Kingstown Democrat, said schools with established programs have shown the approach works. “They are saving their districts money on trash hauling and tipping fees, keeping literally tons of food out of our landfill where it would be producing damaging methane, and diverting it to those who will eat it,” she said. “The real beauty of this effort is that kids are learning to be good stewards of the earth.”
According to the Rhode Island School Recycling Project, 5 million pounds of food is wasted at the state’s schools each year, including an estimated 776,698 pounds of usable food that could have gone to families facing food insecurity. The voluntary program, used in more than 70 schools, has students sort waste into recyclables, compostable organics and trash, overseen by student “food waste rangers.”
Since beginning with three schools in 2021, the project says it has diverted an estimated 829 tons of food waste from the landfill and recovered 93 tons of usable food through share tables. Organizers expect it to reach half of Rhode Island’s schools by 2027 and all of them by 2030.
