Connecticut

Helpful Connecticut Wasted Food Resources

• Wasted food reduction and recovery in Connecticut
  • Connecticut DEEP’s resources on how to recover food and reduce wasted food.

• How to comply with the Connecticut organics recycling law
  • The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) provides information on how to comply with the Connecticut commercial organics recycling law

• Wasted Food to Fuel: Diverting Food Scraps for Anaerobic Digestion in Middletown, CT 
  • Through support from Middletown Sanitation Department, the EPA, and CT DEEP, the Center for EcoTechnology put together this instructional video with Blue Earth Compost and their customer Perk on Main to help other restaurants set up and operate successful food scrap diversion programs for anaerobic digestion. By participating in this innovative program, businesses reduce trash generation, support local jobs, and help create energy and compost.

• Map of Food Waste in Connecticut
  • Connecticut DEEP’s map for identifying, quantifying, and mapping wasted food from Connecticut businesses and institutions.

• Composting and Anaerobic Digestion Facilities in Connecticut
  • Connecticut DEEP’s website includes facilities that accept certain types of wasted food.

• Spotlights from New Haven
  • The state is working to expand organics collection and processing infrastructure, and since 2015, the Center for EcoTechnology (CET) has helped bolster activity by working with commercial businesses to implement strategies to reduce wasted food. Learn how businesses and institutions are working together to recover wasted food & how you can join them.
  • Spotlights from New Haven Social Media Toolkit
    This Social Media Toolkit has pre-written posts and suggested hashtags for you to easily be able to share these success stories on your organization’s social media platforms.

• Connecticut Food Donation Made Easy
  • This food rescue guidance document is part of a series aimed at helping commercial food service providers – e.g., restaurants, hotels, corporate cafeterias, and schools – reduce the volume of organic waste they send to landfills.

• Food Donation by Connecticut Schools Guidelines and Resources
  • CET, in collaboration with Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Department of Public Health, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, and others, developed a guidance document for Connecticut schools on opportunities to donate food internally through share tables as well as externally to food banks and charitable organizations. The document consolidates federal and state regulations, including information on liability protection, health codes, and more.

• Food Scraps Diversion Guide for West Hartford Public Schools
  • CET provides guidance on how to implement a district-wide food scraps diversion program.

• How to donate food to the Connecticut Food Bank
  • The Connecticut Food Bank provides guidance on how to donate food (in Fairfield, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, New London, and Windham counties).

• How to donate food to Connecticut Foodshare
  • Connecticut Foodshare provides both pick-up and drop-off services for food donation (Hartford and Tolland counties).

• Helpful fact sheets on food donation laws from the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic
  • Legal Fact Sheet: Date Labeling Laws
  • Legal Fact Sheet: Liability Protection
  • Legal Fact Sheet: Tax Incentives for Businesses
  • Legal Fact Sheet: Feeding Food Scraps to Animals

• Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act
  • The Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (Public Law 104-210) protects donors from liability when donating to nonprofit organizations and protects donors from civil and criminal liability should the product, donated in good faith, later cause harm to the needy recipient.

• Case Study: Wilton School District
  • In 2016, a class project at Middlebrook Middle School inspired their cafeteria’s food waste diversion program and transformed the Wilton School District.