STATE LAW BANS FOOD SCRAPS FROM THE TRASH

See our Food Scrap Ban Guidance with requirements for residents, businesses, and haulers

Check out Compost with Confidence for a quick (printable) summary
Print a handy food scrap guide for your fridge.
See tips for reducing food waste at scrapfoodwaste.org.
Find a Food Scrap Hauler.
Read the Dirt on Compost for info on backyard composting.
Learn about requirements and options for Rental Properties.
Still have questions? Check out our Food Scrap Management FAQ.

What are Food Scraps?

  • Parts of food items that are typically discarded rather than eaten: peels, rinds, cores, eggshells, seeds, pits, bones, coffee grounds and paper filters, loose-leaf tea & paper tea bags, and fats/oils/grease.
  • Food that was not finished: “plate scraps” or leftovers that went bad. Any type of food can become scraps–bread, pasta, soup, veggies, fruit, sauces, meat, dairy, sweets, etc.

These items can go in your food scrap collection container. You may be able to put other items in with your food scraps depending where your scraps end up. Read on to learn more.

Food Waste Reduction Tips

What do I do with food scraps?

If it was once part of something alive, like a plant or animal, it does not belong in the landfill. Food scraps and yard debris (leaves, grass, brush clippings, etc.) will need to be managed separately from trash.

The first step is to collect your food scraps in a container. There’s no right way to do this. You can reuse a large yogurt tub or bucket, buy a food scrap container, or keep a plastic bag in the freezer–find a method that works for you based on how much food scraps you generate, how often you want to empty, and wash your container, etc.

Drop Off Locations
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Amount of Food in an Average Family’s Trash

Why separate food scraps from the trash?

  • Food scraps contain valuable nutrients that are good for the soil. Finished compost can be used in gardens, farms, and landscaping.
  • Generating less trash conserves landfill space.
  • Composting puts your waste to work supporting composters, local farmers, and food scrap haulers.
  • Without food scraps in it, garbage is cleaner and less smelly.

How does food waste relate to climate change?

According to the book Drawdown, food that is produced but not eaten contributes 8% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing food waste is one of the single most impactful actions for reducing the effects of climate change. Composting food scraps is also an important climate solution.

How can I waste less food?

Buy only what you need and eat what you buy.
Learn more at scrapfoodwaste.org.

​External resources:

What do I do with my food scraps?

See how real people across Vermont manage their food scraps in the Scrapbook at scrapfoodwaste.org.

What happens to the food scraps I’ve separated?

Most of Vermont’s food scraps are composted at composting facilities and some are fed to animals or processed at anaerobic digesters.

Composting

Digesting

Feed Animals

Drop off

Donate

Composting in Your Backyard

Cover every bucket of food scraps (“greens”) with three buckets of dried yard debris (“browns”), like leaves, dry grass, sawdust, or chipped wood. Covering food scraps with browns reduces odors and creates a good carbon to nitrogen ratio for soil bacteria and other decomposers to break down the pile.

Once the material has decomposed for months (speed up the process by mixing it once in a while) and cured for a few more months, you can use it as a nutrient boost for your garden. Mature compost looks and smells like dark brown soil.

If you compost in a backyard, the law allows you to throw meat, bones, and grease in the trash (including from seafood). These items don’t break down quickly in small-scale compost systems.

Digesting in your Yard

Solar digesters use the sun’s energy to break down food scraps.

You don’t need to add browns, and it IS ok to include meat, bones, and other animal products.

Similar to backyard composting, the law allows you to throw meat, bones, and their fats (including seafood) in the trash if you want.

Solar Digesters decompose waste material almost completely, so you will not end up with finished compost that you can use in your garden.

Feeding Animals

If you have chickens or pigs, you can feed household scraps to them.

To prevent the spread of diseases, the Agency of Agriculture prohibits feeding pigs food scraps that have touched meat or fish, including their organs, bones, and juices. These regulations do not apply to feeding personal food scraps to pigs that are for personal consumption. To learn more, consult Feeding Food Scraps to Pigs and the Agency of Agriculture’s Guidance on Feeding Food Scraps to Pigs.

Some food scraps from food manufacturing, such as spent brewery grain and whey, can also be fed to animals.

Call the Pros

Drop-off composting: You can drop off food scraps and yard debris at any transfer station or bag-drop in Vermont. Many compost facilities also have drop-offs. Consult your local Waste Management District or town or our Materials Management Map to learn about services in your area.

Who’s Hauling Food Scraps? | Rutland County Waste Haulers

Curbside pick-up: Ask your hauler if they offer food scrap pick-up, or find a hauler on the statewide list of food scrap haulers. In Vermont, hauling food scraps for a fee requires a state hauler permit. If you live in bear country, check out these tips for keeping bears away from food scrap containers. Many of these tips will help keep bears away from garbage too.

Community Food Scrap Share Program

The Solid Waste Alliance Communities, Rutland County Solid Waste District, and 350 Rutland County are pleased to announce the roll out of the Community Food Scrap Share Program. This spring, over 285 people participated in our Composting 101 Workshops. As an offshoot of this educational project, we have created a community share platform after identifying the need for further opportunities for communities to divert food scraps from the trash.
Are you unsure how to divert your food scraps from the trash? Anyone that wishes to donate food scraps to be handled elsewhere can register with contact information and town name, giving a food scrap receiver the opportunity to make contact.

Food scrap receivers (home composters or farmers with animals) can register with contact information and town name, giving a food scrap donor the opportunity to make contact. They can also request, accept and use additional food scraps from neighbors, develop their own systems for drop off, and potentially share in surplus amounts of finished compost in the future.

This project is a win/win on many levels. It builds community, keeps food scraps out of the landfill, and diminishes the amount of scraps that the transfer stations need to have hauled to an industrial compost facility. And it ensures the creation of additional soil and food that will increase our local food security.

Do you need another option to divert your food scraps from the trash? Want more food scraps to make soil or feed animals? Your neighbors may be able to help you out!

Food Donation

The USEPA and USDA estimate that over 30% of the United States food supply is wasted. In 2010 an estimated 133 billion pounds of food never was eaten. In response to the impact of wasted food on the environment, the USEPA and USDA announced in September 2015 a national goal to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030.

Food loss and waste has far-reaching impacts on food security, resource conservation and climate change. Food loss and waste is the single largest component of disposed U.S. municipal solid waste, and accounts for a significant portion of U.S. methane emissions. Landfills are the third largest source of methane in the United States. Furthermore, experts have projected that reducing food losses by just 15 percent would provide enough food for more than 25 million Americans every year, helping to sharply reduce incidences of food insecurity for millions.

How to Donate Food | Vermont Food Bank | Rutland Area Food Shelves

What if I still have questions?

Frequently Asked Questions Handouts

Residential Resources

Business/Hauler/School Resources