Yet another example of poor decision making in Trenton comes with the adoption of Assembly bill A-2371 which seeks to redirect/recycle “food waste” around the State. This legislation will cost taxpayers millions of dollars and put a severe financial burden on private businesses.

How? A-2371 would create a system where large amounts of organic food waste would have to be transported to certain facilities in order for it to be processed, not to mention it would create another bureaucratic obstacle known as the Food Waste Recycling Market Development Council.

So why is this negatively impactful? Nine counties in the State have already invested in Landfill Gas to Energy (LGTE) systems that turn food waste into energy which is not only cost effective, but environmentally friendly. With the passage of this bill, these systems are being rendered obsolete after millions of taxpayer dollars have been invested to construct the required infrastructure and hire personnel for operation.

Monmouth County alone invested over $8 million to upgrade a “carbon capture” LGTE system that successfully created a reliable source of energy from food waste collected at the county landfill. In addition to the negative impacts on existing systems, this will also discourage investment in future alternative and renewable energy systems by county governments for fear of having them neutered by a change in State policy.

If we are serious about adopting alternative energy systems in New Jersey, we must encourage investment in proven technology that requires a consistent and reliable chain of material to make it work.

The other side of the negative effects is the extraordinary cost to private business. With New Jersey being such a difficult state to operate, we should not be burdening them with additional costs and regulations to comply with a mandate that will ultimately cost all taxpayers millions. Separating out food waste, particularly when the status quo has a proven upside, is an unnecessary and costly, labor intensive exercise the will ultimately result in higher prices for consumers and possibly be less environmentally friendly.

The Senate is now considering a companion bill. It is imperative that an amendment exempting counties that already have LGTE’s be added and a provision to minimize the cost to business be considered before the bill becomes law.