Are you passionate about promoting a more equitable, accessible, economically vibrant, and environmentally sustainable food system in Rhode Island?
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Research and Analysis: Enforcing RI’s Compost Laws
The Rhode Island Food Policy Council seeks a contractor to conduct research and analysis regarding implementation of existing Rhode Island state laws related to the management of food waste. The objective is to provide a data-based estimate of the cost of properly enforcing existing Rhode Island state laws related to the management of food waste.
The central landfill in Johnston, Rhode Island is projected to reach full capacity in 10-15 years. The quasi-public entity that operates it, Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, told planners in 2018 to start looking for trash disposal alternatives by 2022. The trash being dumped into the landfill includes about 100,000 tons of food waste per year, making food waste one of the top materials being deposited in Rhode Island’s waste stream. Unfortunately, when organic waste like food waste is deposited in a landfill and starts decomposing, it releases methane – a greenhouse gas which is much more dangerous than carbon dioxide for the climate, because it is much more efficient than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Concurrently, there is a strong and growing need for high quality compost that can improve soil fertility among RI’s farmers, gardeners, home builders, and state infrastructure agencies. This small state boasts 57,000 acres of farmland and over 1,000 farms, which were estimated by the University of Rhode Island to result in $297 million in agricultural sales (2012 estimate adjusted for inflation to 2020 dollars).
To address this issue the state legislature has passed laws such as R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-18.9-17 and R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-111-2 which aim to require large food waste generators to divert their food waste and require schools to conduct waste audits. These laws are largely unenforced due to state budget constraints. This project seeks to understand this situation as a critical step in finding pathways to remediate it.
READ THE FULL REQUEST & APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Proposals due by Tuesday, February 17.
Please email info@rifoodcouncil.org with questions.