Goal 14: Safe edible food typically thrown away will be rescued to feed people, and organics from farms (e.g., manure) and consumer food scraps will be diverted from landfills and waterways to produce animal feed, compost, and feedstock for anaerobic digesters.

With the passage of Act 148 and the impending implementation of a new Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)—the daily nutrient budget for a body of water—for Lake Champlain, Vermont is on the cusp of a dramatic and comprehensive shift in the way its citizens will relate to and manage nutrients.  Act 148 stipulates that all food scraps will be diverted from landfills by 2020 via source reduction, food rescue, food for animals, composting, and energy production. 

What does the data show? Since 1998, compostable organics have made up approximately 22% of all materials disposed of in landfills. In 2012, the amount was estimated to be about 92,000 tons. 

Since 1998, Vermont has experienced year-to-year variation but no sustained progress in reducing per capita waste generation. It is largely because of this, and Vermont's stagnant diversion rate that has hovered between 30-35%, that Act 148 that will require all organics be banned from landfill disposal by 2020. A study conducted by DSM Environmental Services for the state of Vermont projects an approximately 60% reduction in landfilled organics by 2020.