Financial and Lifestyle Resources for Vermont

The average Vermonter generates almost six pounds of waste each day. Two pounds of that waste is either recycled or composted, which means that every single day we all throw away a four-pound bag of trash. That’s a lot! To help with this burgeoning waste problem, Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law, or Act 148, was passed in 2012. The law has two primary goals—to reduce Vermont’s overall waste and increase the amount of waste that is diverted from the landfill through recycling and composting. It has been instituted incrementally over the past six years with the final phase—the complete landfill ban on food scraps—coming on July 1.  

Starting July 1, 2020, Vermonters are no longer permitted to put food scraps in the trash. This is the final phase of Vermont’s food waste landfill ban—part of the Universal Recycling Law which passed in 2012. The goal of the law is to reduce the state’s trash and increase recycling and composting of food waste. Why does this matter? We want to reduce dependence on landfilling, conserve valuable resources like aluminum and oil, and reduce greenhouse gases created from landfilled food scraps and other organic matter.

Americans throw away about 40% of the food that we produce in this country. Don’t believe it? Start paying attention in your own home. Track your food waste for a week and you’ll be surprised—the cottage cheese that turned moldy, the half-bunch wilted cilantro that you didn’t need for a recipe, the leftovers that you never felt like eating again, and the kale you bought because you want to start eating healthier but never cooked. And it’s not just in our homes, but in restaurants, groceries, on farms, and in institutions, like hospitals and schools. It’s a big problem, not only because food is being wasted but for other environmental, social, and economic reasons as well.