Legislation sponsored by Rep. Lauren H. Carson and Sen. Bridget Valverde to strengthen a law that reduces school cafeteria waste in the state鈥檚 landfill has been signed into law. The bill (2026-H 7342A, 2026-H 2438A), which was signed by the governor, requires all new school food service contracts to include provisions mandating the composting or recycling of organic waste, and requires the public disclosure of schools鈥� waste audits that detail their efforts to reduce waste, recycle and divert usable food to the community instead of the landfill.
The bill also provides a framework for 鈥渟hare tables,鈥� already used in many school cafeterias, where students put unopened food they don鈥檛 want so others may eat it, instead of in the trash. The bill amends a law enacted in 2021 鈥� also sponsored by Representative Carson and Senator Valverde 鈥� that encourages, but does not require, schools to compel food vendors to recycle or compost food waste, and requires waste audits every three years but doesn鈥檛 mandate their public disclosure.
鈥淭he schools that have established programs to keep food waste out of the trash have shown us that kids are really good at this. They are saving their districts money on trash hauling and tipping fees, keeping literally tons of food out of our landfill where it would be producing damaging methane, and diverting it to those who will eat it or enabling it to be turned into nutrient-rich compost,鈥� said Senator Valverde (D-Dist. 35, North Kingstown, East Greenwich, South Kingstown). 鈥淭he real beauty of this effort is that kids are learning to be good stewards of the earth. We know this works well, and it should be happening at all schools because it will ultimately produce a better future for us all.鈥�
Said Representative Carson (D-Dist. 75, Newport), 鈥淩equiring food waste diversion in food service contracts is a critical step toward finally implementing this strategy across the state after years of slow-rolling it. With the addition of transparency for schools鈥� waste audits, we鈥檒l get real data about exactly how much of a difference this makes. This is low-hanging fruit in terms of policy changes we can adopt to protect our limited landfill space, and it comes with the additional benefits of redirecting unopened food to people who need it, saving schools and municipalities money on waste hauling expenses and equipping young Rhode Islanders with better skills and viewpoints when it comes to recycling and preventing waste.鈥�
According to the Rhode Island School Recycling Project, 5 million pounds of food is wasted at Rhode Island schools each year. An estimated 776,698 pounds of that food is perfectly usable food that could have gone to some of the one-in-three families in Rhode Island experiencing food insecurity.
The Rhode Island School Recycling Project, which is a joint effort of several agencies and donors, offers a voluntary program that鈥檚 currently used in more than 70 schools in the state. Schools in the program have students sort their food waste into separate buckets for recyclables, compostable organics and trash, overseen by volunteer student 鈥渇ood waste rangers.鈥� The compostables are picked up by a commercial composter or composted on site.
Unopened food 鈥� like granola bars, bags of chips, cheese sticks, fruit with intact peels, cartons of milk and other drinks 鈥� go to the share table or an associated refrigerator, where anyone else can take it. Unused items from the share table are sent home with kids who need it or donated to food pantries.
Since the program began with three schools in 2021, it has diverted an estimated 829.1 tons 鈥� the equivalent of five Statues of Liberty 鈥� of food waste from the landfill and recovered 93 tons of usable food through share tables.
Additionally, with the help of curriculum developed by Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, teachers engage students in projects calculating the impact of the program, including collecting the data for the school鈥檚 waste audit.
The project鈥檚 organizers say they expect it to reach half of Rhode Island鈥檚 schools by 2027, and all of them by 2030.