A proposed Lane County recycling facility — which would increase recycling capacity in the county — recently had its permit denied, leaving recyclers in the area high and dry. However, Oregonians still have the opportunity to continue the fight for a circular economy across the state. New legislation would tackle more nefarious waste streams that remain relatively unchecked at the state level.

Food waste, as the largest component of Oregon’s solid municipal waste, is a particularly dangerous waste stream from an environmental standpoint. Decomposing food in Oregon’s landfills accounts for 68% of the methane pollution from those facilities. 

Methane, a greenhouse gas that is over 80 times more potent than CO2 in terms of its warming effect, is released when food decomposes. That means that, for every ton of methane released into the atmosphere, we would need to produce over 80 tons of CO2 pollution to produce the same warming effect.

However, composting food waste reduces emissions that warm our climate, worsen our wildfire seasons, and create more extreme weather by over 50%. As Oregon faces a record-breaking wildfire season, we cannot afford to delay action on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. We have the opportunity to coalesce behind legislation that would save valuable resources by diverting them to more useful purposes — like being turned into compost.

Organizations including the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group are working to revive a previously introduced state bill in next year’s legislative session, which would require large businesses like restaurants and grocery stores producing over 1,000 pounds of food waste every week to donate or compost that uneaten food. This legislation would ensure that less food ends up in our landfills and more ends up on people’s plates or in the compost bin.

Oregon’s Legislature should pass this policy in 2027 to put Oregon on track to tackle food waste.

Caitlin Soch
Canvass director, Fund for the Public Interest Eugene office