Food Scraps Bill Takes a Step

Some 6 million tons of food are discarded every year in state landfills making it the largest single source of waste in California, says State Senator Jenny Oropeza (D - Long Beach). That's why she's been working on legislation that would help educate businesses about donating leftover food to nonprofits that serve the needy. One major hurdle is communicating to businesses that do gooding, for the most part, won't end up as a lawsuit, thanks to existing liability protections under state and federal law. “There is simply too much perfectly good food being wasted in California," said Oropeza. SB 1269 would create an online webpage that would centralize all the information about donating food under the law.

The bill was approved today by an Assembly Committee, moving it closer to reality.