Title
First Reading of Ordinance No. 19-1011, Business Food Waste Requirements
Body
RECOMMENDED ACTION (Motion):
Approve the first reading of Ordinance No. 19-1011, Metro Business Food Waste Requirements.
BACKGROUND:
In July 2018, the Metro Council adopted Metro Ordinance No. 18-1418 which amended Metro Code Chapter 5.10 to add the Business Food Waste Requirement. Under this ordinance, each local government must require: (1) covered businesses in its jurisdiction to separate and recover food waste; (2) delivery of collected business food waste to a facility authorized by Metro; and (3) property owners and managers who provide space to a covered business to allow the source separation and collection of food waste.
Diverting more food waste away from landfills is a state and regional priority and a significant opportunity to reduce our climate impact. Oregon’s Opportunity to Recycle Act and corresponding Administrative Rules (OAR 340-090-0040) identify program requirements to support recycling, waste reduction and composting. Metro is the designated agency responsible for implementing our regional waste plan, pursuant to state law. Oregon statute identifies an increased recovery goal for food waste of 25 percent by 2020. Regionally, the collection of commercial food scraps is at 14 percent. The goal of collecting food scraps is to capture environmental and economic benefits of turning that material into useful products or creating energy while reducing the negative environmental impacts associated with disposal.
The region has had a voluntary business food waste collection program in place for over ten years which has plateaued, recovering 14 percent of the total 140,000 tons of food waste generated by businesses each year. In 2016, Metro Council reviewed the region’s current commercial food scraps recovery efforts and confirmed their desire to accelerate the region’s recovery of food scraps. The Metro Council determined that in order to increase food scraps ...
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