Food waste bans are ineffective in reducing landfill waste

We all know we should reduce, reuse, and recycle – but how successful have we been, particularly in the realm of food waste? Surprisingly, not as successful as one might think after a food waste ban.

But, don’t let this discourage you. On the contrary, it’s an opportunity to improve and adapt our strategies.

Success in food waste management

You might feel shell-shocked to learn that out of the first five US states to implement food waste bans, only the Bay State – Massachusetts – succeeded in diverting waste from landfills and incinerators.

This finding comes from a recent study at the University of California Rady School of Management.

The study implies a need to re-evaluate current strategies. It’s not all disappointment, though. We can look at Massachusetts’ approach as a benchmark for effective policy implementation.

Not-so-effective food waste bans

Between 2014 and 2024, nine US states made it illegal for commercial waste generators such as grocery chains to dump their food waste in landfills. They targeted a 10-15% waste reduction.

Robert Evan Sanders is an assistant professor of marketing at the Rady School of Management and co-author of the study.

“We can say with high confidence that the combination of waste bans did not reduce landfilled waste by more than 3%, and that is including Massachusetts, which successfully reduced landfilled waste by 7% – gradually achieving a 13.2% reduction,” said Sanders.

“Essentially, the data suggest that in four out of the five states we studied, these laws did nothing to reduce waste.”

Global food waste

Our global food waste is contributing to about 8 to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a problem we can’t afford to ignore.

“We certainly don’t think states should abandon these laws, but more action needs to be taken to make them effective,” noted co-author Fiorentia Anglou, who conducted the research while earning her PhD at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s McCombs School of Business.

The researchers pinpointed three distinctive features in the Massachusetts food waste ban that likely contributed to its effectiveness.

These features include a robust composting infrastructure, easily understandable legal language, and rigorous enforcement measures.

Amount of waste going to landfills

The researchers adopted a variant of the synthetic control method. In simpler terms, they compared each state that adopted the ban to similar states that hadn’t implemented a waste ban.

The goal was to predict how much waste these states would have sent to landfills without these bans in place.

“With most of these laws, about 70% of commercial organic waste would have been illegal to send to landfills,” said co-author Ioannis Stamatopoulos, a professor at the McCombs School of Business.

“If you take all that organic waste out of landfills, it should reduce the amount of waste that’s going into landfills by 10% in some cases, and that should have been something we were able to see in the data but did not.”

Data collection on food waste

The research encompassed data from 36 states, covering the waste produced by 274 million Americans – or a whopping 85% of the U.S. population.

While some states offered the data on their websites, most of it had to be amassed manually from public records requests and contacting state agencies.

Moving forward with effective policies

“Our findings indicate that simply implementing a food waste ban is not enough to achieve significant reductions in landfill waste,” noted the researchers.

“Massachusetts has shown that with the right combination of comprehensive coverage and effective enforcement, these bans can work. It’s crucial for other states to learn from this model and adapt their policies accordingly to meet environmental targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Isn’t it time other states learned from this model? Let’s refine our policies accordingly to achieve environmental targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The good news is that some states are already making progress.

California, for instance, enacted SB 1383 in 2022 mandating all jurisdictions to offer organic waste collection services for residents and businesses.

The study is published in the journal Science.

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