Bill > S1247

Introduced Session

This bill would require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to update the school food waste guidelines to include recommendations for how to minimize food waste within schools by increasing utilization of food nearing best-by and expiration dates. The State of New Jersey's 2019 School Food Waste Guidelines stated that four to 10 percent of all food purchased by schools becomes pre-consumer waste. Pre-consumer waste includes food items that have spoiled or become expired and, therefore, are required to be discarded before the food could be utilized. The 2019 School Food Waste Guidelines mention the importance of improving food-handling techniques in order to limit pre-consumer food waste. Updating the school food waste guidelines to include recommendations to increase the utilization of food nearing best-by and expiration dates will help to reduce pre-consumer food waste and ensure that food items are properly utilized prior to expiration. The current law requires the DEP, in consultation with other State agencies, to establish voluntary guidelines for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education to reduce, recover, and recycle food waste. This bill would require the DEP's school food waste guidelines to be updated to specifically include recommendations for how schools can better utilize foods nearing best-by and expiration dates to prevent food waste, including, but not necessarily limited to, paying greater attention to food labels and improving food purchasing, storage, and usage methods to ensure older food items are consumed prior to food items that were recently purchased.

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Linda Greenstein (D)*,  Angela Mcknight (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document