OPINION

On April 16, 2024, the State of New Jersey Clean Air Council took up the important and timely topic of “Reducing the Impact of Food Waste on Air Quality and Climate Change.”  While it may not be obvious at first glance, the science on the connection between food waste and climate change is clear.  The decomposition of organic matter, or food waste, in landfills creates methane, a potent greenhouse gas whose warming effect is more than 80 times powerful as the same amount of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reports that food waste is the single most common material sent to landfills, making up approximately 22 percent of New Jersey’s solid waste.  That equates to a staggering 325 pounds of food for each New Jersey resident.

An alternative to sending food waste to landfills and incinerators is to compost it into a beneficial soil amendment product.  Composting, which may occur on a small-scale level with a backyard composting pile or at the commercial level with state-of-the-art facilities, has other benefits besides reducing methane emissions and providing a valuable product that cycles nutrients back into the soil.  Diverting food waste to composting facilities can save space in landfills, extending their lifespan, and reduce our contributions to waste incinerators, which are often located in overburdened communities.

In 2020, New Jersey has attempted to encourage more food waste composting by requiring large food waste generators, such as industrial food processors, supermarkets, restaurants or medical facilities, to recycle their food waste at an authorized food waste recycling facility within 25 road miles.  Unfortunately, there are only two authorized food waste recycling facilities in New Jersey, neither of which produces compost as an end product, and there is one commercial scale composting facility that is pending approval by the state.  This is no where near the scale needed to capture all the food waste generated in New Jersey.

The cost of not having a robust food waste recycling or composting program in New Jersey is that it hinders our ability to reach our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, limits local government’s ability to meet increased resident demand for more sustainable ways to handle waste, and does not support our agricultural community by providing a valuable soil amendment for their crops.  And, unlike some other actions needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the development of compost facilities can take place in the short-term to achieve immediate results and jump-start an in-state circular economy that reduces waste and pollution, develops high value products and restores our ecosystem.

As a leader in environmental and climate change action, New Jersey must do more to move forward with policies, rules and investments to support companies, local governments, non-profit organizations and community-based groups that want to develop food waste composting facilities.

Here are some of ideas that the New Jersey Clean Air Council should consider as it reviews how to reduce food waste and control emissions from food disposal:

• Eliminate uncertainty in the marketplace through the consistent treatment and application of laws and regulations during the county review process for the siting of compost facilities through the development of guidelines.
• Update the permitting process to include a tiered permit structure that is based on the modern science of composting. Rules regarding composting have not been updated for nearly forty years and New Jersey is falling behind other states.
• Increase public education on the importance of reducing food waste, as well as the benefits of diverting what is left from landfills or waste incinerators.
• Ensure parity for food waste composting facilities with facilities that use food waste to produce biogas in terms of state rules, policies, climate goals and investment.

As New Jersey moves forward with important clean energy projects, increasing electric vehicle purchases and charging infrastructure, and building decarbonization, it should not leave behind one of the easiest and immediate ways to achieve our climate goals – composting.

Christina PioCosta-Lahue is the founder and President of Vivaria Ecologics. Throughout her career, she has worked in food and agriculture systems in a range of contexts – from agribusiness multinationals to government projects with smallholder farmers – and geographies – from Latin America to sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, she has held roles in the US and abroad in the education sector, government advisory work and real estate and urban planning. Christina holds a Master in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA in Growth and Structure of Cities from Haverford College.

Where they will run

The Kindness Run will start around 5:30 a.m. Friday morning at the Cape May Lighthouse and head up into Atlantic County, using highways, side roads, back roads and trails.

Pinney said they hope to arrive in the Tabernacle area around midnight, where they will nap for a few hours before proceeding up Route 206.

Most of Saturday will be spent running in Burlington and Mercer Counties. The trio will probably travel into Somerset County in the evening before taking a break in the Chester or Mount Olive area.

The runners plan to leave early Sunday morning and spend all day into the early evening running through Sussex County, before finishing up at High Point State Park.

“We expect to go about 75, 80 miles the first day,” Pinney said. “Rest for a couple of hours, then do another 75 miles, and hopefully on Sunday, which will be the third day, we’ll have about 40 miles left, but it’s a hard 40 miles because it’s more uphill.”

Pinney first learned about Dylan’s Wings of Change in 2019 at a New Jersey School Boards Association convention, where Dylan’s father, Ian Hockley, was a keynote speaker. He said he was inspired by the work they were doing and decided to support the organization. Pinney organized the first New Jersey donation run in 2022. He said the goal of this year’s run is to raise $10,000.

“I was really taken that he had taken a negative tragedy, losing his child in such a horrific manner,” Pinney said. “And turning it into such a positive thing. That touched me, and I don’t know if I could have done that.”

MOORESTOWN, New Jersey (WPVI) — By all accounts, having a baby should be a joyous time, but bringing life into the world could cost some moms their lives.

Raising awareness of that fact is the focus of Black Maternal Health Week.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related issue than their white counterparts.

One New Jersey woman in Burlington County came close to being a part of that statistic. She hopes her story and her new mission can help others.

“We’re getting tons of moms and families these days,” said Victoria Dash as she stood inside ‘I See Baby,’ a 3D and 4D ultrasound business in the Moorestown Mall that she co-founded.

The company offers moms-to-be a chance to see babies in a way they’re usually not seen.

“3D is really lifelike. So you see the features, the chubby cheeks, the scrunching of the nose,” said Dash.

Dash takes pride in giving other moms the pregnancy experience she didn’t have.

“I woke up, there was 50 nurses there and they’re saying, ‘What happened? Are you ok? Are you ok?’ Then the baby came out,” she recalled of her birth experience with her third child.

Complications during childbirth are something she always feared. For Black women, that fear is very real.

The 6abc data journalism team found the rate of pregnancy-caused deaths for Black women in New Jersey is six times higher than their white counterparts. In Pennsylvania, it’s four times higher.

“I don’t think there is anything more tragic than losing a mom during the process of childbirth,” said Chief Physician Executive Dr. Jack Ludmir at Temple Women and Families Hospital.

Philadelphia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee found that from 2013 to 2018, Black women made up 43% of births but 73% of pregnancy-related deaths in the city.

Ludmir says the reasons could range from access to medical care to systemic racism.

“It is really trying to address the social issues and how to try to combine both of them,” he said.

Ludmir notes the importance of advocacy and doulas, who can assist during pregnancy and childbirth.

“I said, ‘I don’t care what happens, as long as you don’t let me die,’” said Dash.

She credits her doula with helping her not become a statistic.

“She quite literally saved my life,” said Dash of Xiomara Gittens, certified doula and owner of The Purple Purpose which provides doula services.

“For anybody giving birth, any race, the fear is am I going to make it out,” said Gittens, “but as a black woman I can honestly say I think everybody’s fear is that number.”

That’s why offering a peek at a healthy baby with her business is so important to Dash. She hopes more moms have deliveries that are not just special but safe.

“Give you that happy experience for every pregnancy,” she said.

Temple hopes its new Women and Families hospital can help by providing services to vulnerable populations.

The hospital is open for outpatient services now, and will fully open for all services in 2025.

The Pennsylvania Legislature also has a Black Maternal Health Caucus, which introduced a set of bills known as PA MOMNIBUS to help address the issue.