New York City’s Local Law 146, the Commercial Organic Waste Law, requires covered food waste generators to source-separate their organic material and either arrange for the transportation of this material to a processing facility or process the food waste on-site. The law defines a list of categories of “covered establishments” including:
• food manufacturers with a floor area of at least 25,000 square feet;
• food wholesalers with a floor area of at least 20,000 square feet;
• retail food stores with a floor area of at least 10,000 square feet, or chains of three or more stores with a combined area of at least 10,000 square feet;
• food service vendors in arenas or stadiums with seating capacity of at least 15,000 people;
• food service establishments with a floor area of at least 7000 square feet, or chains of two or more establishments with a combined area of at least 8000 square feet;
• food preparation establishments with a floor area of at least 6000 feet;
• catering establishments for events greater than 100 people;
• food service establishments in hotels with 100 or more rooms;
• and sponsors of public events.
The law requires the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) commissioner to conduct annual assessments of organics processing capacity in the region, and to designate a subset of the “covered establishments” outlined above that must comply with the requirements of the ordinance, based on the amount of available capacity. DSNY made designations in 2016, and expanded them in 2018.