Paula Luu

New York State’s (NYS) Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law took effect January 1, 2022, requiring businesses and institutions generating two or more tons of wasted food per week to donate edible food and recycle the rest if they sit within 25 miles of an organics recycler. In 2023, New York grocery and supercenter operators reported food scraps recycling compliance of 88% and 97%, respectively. Restaurants reported 9%. Hospitality reported 11%. Malls reported 4%. The law is working, but the compliance curve is bending unevenly across sectors, and that unevenness may be the most important signal in NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYSDEC) latest data for anyone planning the next phase of organics infrastructure.

The topline numbers look strong, starting with food donation increases, which jumped 50% year-over-year to 29.8 million pounds in 2023. Food scraps recycling rose 29% to 73,288 tons. The annual report response rate hit 69%, with 707 of 1,023 designated generators submitting.

For Kristine Ellsworth, Environmental Engineer at NYSDEC’s Division of Materials Management, the early results were both validating and surprising. “It was reassuring to see policy turn into action,” she said. What her team didn’t fully anticipate was how quickly food donation would scale. New York’s existing network of food banks and food relief organizations – anchored by Feeding NYS and ten regional food banks – gave the donation side of the law an infrastructure head start. More than 96 million pounds of food have been donated to New Yorkers since 2021 through the program. 

“We did not anticipate such a strong response,” Ellsworth noted. On the organics recycling side, she was more measured. Effective infrastructure exists, she said, but “there is still room for growth in New York State,” particularly as the law expands toward generators that don’t yet have the systems or relationships to comply.

Where the Law is Working

Three sectors are doing the heavy lifting. Among the 371 Designated Food Scraps Generators (DFSGs) required to recycle in 2023 (Table 1), supercenters reported a 97% recycling rate (3,640 tons), grocery and specialty food hit 88% (17,479 tons), and colleges and universities reported 61% (2,967 tons). These are sectors with centralized procurement, back-of-house operations built around inventory tracking, existing waste hauler relationships, and in many cases corporate sustainability mandates that predate the law.

Table 1. Food Scraps Recycling by Designated Food Scraps Generators (DFSGs) Required to Recycle in 2023 (tons)

Source: Kristine Ellsworth (NYDEC) presentation at the USCC conference February 2026. Click table to enlarge.

Donation tells a similar story (Table 2). Grocery donated 22.3 million pounds in 2023 – roughly 75% of the total – and supercenters added another 4.5 million pounds. Food retail is functionally the engine of the law’s early performance.

Table 2. Food Donation by Designated Food Scraps Generators (DFSGs) in 2023 (lbs)

Source: Kristine Ellsworth (NYDEC) presentation at the USCC conference February 2026. Click table to enlarge.

Where It is Not

Not every sector is making meaningful progress. Restaurants required to recycle reported a 9% recycling rate across 90 generators (1,318 tons). Hospitality reported 11% (386 tons). Correctional facilities reported 44% (320 tons). Malls reported 4% on the donation side and zero on the required-to-recycle side because none crossed the 2-ton/week threshold.

Ellsworth pointed to both organizational capacity and operational complexity as the core drivers. Larger chains, she explained, “were already pursuing sustainability initiatives at locations in New York State and beyond” and have the organizational infrastructure to stand up new programs. The gap widens when looking at the material itself. Food scraps from retail tend to be pre-consumer — consistent, clean, low contamination. Food scraps from restaurants and hospitality are largely post-consumer. “Food scraps from food service are typically post-consumer, have greater risk for contamination, and are therefore more labor-intensive to separate,” Ellsworth said. That additional handling burden hits hardest in the sectors already squeezed by thin margins, high turnover, and fragmented operations.

This is not a New York problem. It is the same compliance pattern Massachusetts has now documented across a decade of its own commercial food waste ban. 

A counterweight worth noting is voluntary recyclers, or generators not required to comply, which recycled 47,178 tons in 2023, nearly double the 26,110 tons recycled by required generators. Some sectors, including military bases (100% reporting, 2,961 tons) and supercenters (89% reporting, 2,920 tons), are voluntarily operating at high rates. The market is moving alongside the mandate, not just because of it.

What the Next Three Years Will Test

The law will continue to expand over the next few years. On January 1, 2027, the threshold drops to one ton per week, the recycling radius doubles to 50 miles, and approximately 2,000 new generators will have to come into compliance. On January 1, 2029, the threshold drops again to half a ton, adding another ~2,000 DFSGs.

The smaller generators entering the system are disproportionately concentrated in the lagging sectors – more independent restaurants, more small institutional operations, more hospitality. The compliance curve does not flatten on its own. It gets harder.

NYSDEC is deploying support infrastructure ahead of the expansion. Rethink Food Waste NY, managed by the Center for EcoTechnology (CET), is offering $1.3 million in free technical assistance over four years. Feeding NYS holds a $6 million contract through 2028 for expansion of donation infrastructure. CET hosted a hauler roundtable and a market expansion engagement in February 2026 – early signals that the agency is anticipating capacity strain on both the collection and processing sides.

Ellsworth framed the agency’s posture around meeting generators where they are. “DEC acknowledges that entities required to comply with the law are balancing many priorities,” she said. “Connecting generators with our technical assistance service providers allows generators to work hand in hand with an organization that can walk them through each step.” 

The intent is to make compliance feel navigable, not punitive, for smaller and more operationally complex businesses that don’t have a sustainability team to absorb the learning curve.