"New Jersey is charting a new course for the future, with a stronger and more just environment at its center," Shawn M. LaTourette, New Jersey's Commissioner of Environmental Protection said. "That future includes a new approach to reducing food waste, which will avoiding land filling, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create new business opportunities in the process."
"History has shown us time and again that we can do great things when we work together," said Valerie Montecalvo, president and CEO of Bayshore Recycling, who organized the workgroup effort. "The climate crisis confronting our state, nation and world presents a call to action of unprecedented proportion, our plan of attack, sustainable living. In our fight, every action toward mitigation or adaptation counts toward our common goal to preserve, protect and enhance our environment and natural systems for generations to come. Volunteerism and unifying common vision are among our strongest assets."
"Today represents a new beginning as our Food Waste Recycling Law takes effect and New Jersey begins a concerted effort to reduce wasted food and recycle, as opposed to disposing of organics in landfills and incinerators," said Marie Kruzan, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Recyclers. "Our Climate Alliance Organics Plan provides us with an initial pathway to advance the goals of the new law and to attack the reduction of GHG emissions attributable to wasted food.
More sustainable management of food can feed more New Jerseyans confronting food insecurity and improve soil quality to enhance agriculture, community gardening, and plant growth through the use of compost.
"Compost enriches soil while helping retain moisture and suppressing plant diseases and pests, reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and reduces methane emissions from landfills while lowering our collective carbon footprint" said Jairo Gonzalez, President of the New Jersey Composting Council. "Working cooperatively with state, county and local officials, we hope to show sustainable organics management is a win for not only our environment but also our economy and well-being."
While the stakeholder effort was focused on planning, identifying practical ways to advance more sustainable organic material management was the objective.
"Our Sustainable Jersey programs now actively engage 460 New Jersey municipalities, 1,025 schools and 374 school districts," said Randy Solomon, executive director. "We currently offer practical actions for towns and schools to take to reduce and recycle food waste. The Organics Workgroup effort will undoubtedly result in additional actions developed to promote even more sustainable management practices which can dramatically advance our GHG emission reduction and environmental goals.
Montecalvo summed up the Workgroup effort and future direction: "While we hope you find our work to be informative, it has clearly just begun! Framing a plan of action is a critical first step, but the rubber hits the road through action and implementation. It is now time to collectively roll up our sleeves and get to the real work of effecting positive change."
The Sustainable Organic Material Management Plan can be found here: Organics Workgroup SOMMP
The New Jersey Climate Change Alliance is a network of diverse organizations that share the goal of advancing science-informed climate change strategies at the state and local levels in New Jersey, with regard to adapting to changing climate conditions and addressing the emissions that cause climate change. Alliance participants include representatives of public, private and non-governmental New Jersey organizations from sectors including transportation, emergency managements, business, energy, engineering, farming, insurance, environment, health, community planning, Environmental Justice, natural resource management, and others. The Alliance does not work to influence political outcomes or specific pieces of legislation; rather, the work of the Alliance serves to integrate science with evidence and diverse points of view through the voices of Alliance participants for the purpose of informing short and long-term climate change strategies and outlining policy options for New Jersey.