Zero Food Waste Act

I 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 6684 To provide grants to reduce the amount of food waste, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 12, 2025 Ms. B ROWNLEY (for herself, Ms. P INGREE, Mr. C ASTEN, and Ms. T OKUDA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Commerce A BILL To provide grants to reduce the amount of food waste, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Zero Food Waste Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. FOOD WASTE REDUCTION GRANTS. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.— 6 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall 7 establish and carry out a program to award competi-8 tive grants as provided in paragraph (3). 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Dec 31, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6684.IH H6684kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 6684 IH (2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program es-1 tablished under paragraph (1) is to help reduce the 2 amount of food waste by 50 percent by 2035, rel-3 ative to such amount in 2015. 4 (3) GRANTS.— 5 (A) S TUDY ON FOOD WASTE GENERATION 6 AND FOOD WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANNING .— 7 Under the program established under para-8 graph (1), the Administrator may award a 9 grant to an eligible entity, excluding any eligible 10 entity that is a nonprofit organization, to— 11 (i) study— 12 (I) the generation of food waste 13 in the State or area in which the eligi-14 ble entity is located or otherwise 15 serves; and 16 (II) policies and programs that 17 significantly reduce the amount of 18 food waste, including policies and pro-19 grams to carry out food waste reduc-20 tion activities; and 21 (ii) develop a plan under which such 22 eligible entity will carry out at least one 23 food waste reduction activity, prioritizing 24 prevention to the extent practicable. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Dec 31, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6684.IH H6684kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 6684 IH (B) F OOD WASTE DATA AND REPORTS .— 1 Under the program established under para-2 graph (1), the Administrator may award a 3 grant to an eligible entity, excluding any eligible 4 entity that is a nonprofit organization, to— 5 (i) collect data on the amount of food 6 waste generated in the State or area in 7 which the eligible entity is located or other-8 wise serves; and 9 (ii) publish, on any publicly available 10 website (which may include the website of 11 a nongovernmental organization), a month-12 ly or quarterly report on the data collected 13 under clause (i). 14 (C) F OOD WASTE REDUCTION 15 PROJECTS.—Under the program established 16 under paragraph (1), the Administrator may 17 award a grant to an eligible entity to— 18 (i)(I) carry out or otherwise support a 19 food waste reduction activity; 20 (II) implement a differential pricing 21 policy on the disposal of food waste to— 22 (aa) disincentivize disposing of 23 food waste by incineration or deposit 24 in a landfill; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Dec 31, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6684.IH H6684kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 6684 IH (bb) incentivize carrying out food 1 waste reduction activities; 2 (III) pay for or provide technical as-3 sistance to carry out a food waste reduc-4 tion activity; 5 (IV) implement restrictions on dis-6 posing of food waste by incineration or de-7 posit in a landfill; 8 (V) implement food waste reduction 9 activity requirements; 10 (VI) implement demand-stimulating 11 policies for recycling end-markets; or 12 (VII) carry out any other activity the 13 Administrator determines will reduce the 14 amount of food waste in the applicable 15 area; and 16 (ii) collect data and publish reports as 17 described in subparagraph (B). 18 (b) APPLICATIONS.— 19 (1) I N GENERAL .—To apply for a grant under 20 this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 21 Administrator an application at such time and in 22 such form as the Administrator may require, which 23 such application shall demonstrate how the eligible 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Dec 31, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6684.IH H6684kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 6684 IH entity will use the grant in accordance with sub-1 section (a)(3). 2 (2) N ONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS .—In the case 3 of an application from an eligible entity that is a 4 nonprofit organization, the application shall in-5 clude— 6 (A) a letter of support for the proposed 7 use of the grant from— 8 (i) the relevant local government, ter-9 ritorial government, Tribal government, or 10 State; or 11 (ii) another nonprofit organization 12 that— 13 (I) has a demonstrated history of 14 undertaking work in the geographic 15 region where the proposed use of the 16 grant is to take place, as determined 17 by the Administrator; and 18 (II) would not be involved in the 19 proposed use of the grant; and 20 (B) any other information the Adminis-21 trator may require. 22 (3) P RIORITIZATION.—In awarding grants 23 under this section, the Administrator shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Dec 31, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6684.IH H6684kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 6684 IH (A) seek to award grants for use in diverse 1 locations and for diverse uses; and 2 (B) prioritize awarding grants to— 3 (i) any eligible entity, excluding any 4 eligible entity that is a nonprofit organiza-5 tion, that— 6 (I) implements a program to 7 carry out food waste reduction activi-8 ties; or 9 (II) has a demonstrated need, as 10 determined by the Administrator, for 11 additional investment in infrastruc-12 ture or other resources to be able to 13 implement a program to carry out 14 food waste reduction activities; or 15 (ii) an eligible entity that will use 16 such grant as provided in subsection 17 (a)(3)(C)(i) in a community of color, low- 18 income community, or Tribal community 19 that has been disproportionately affected 20 by adverse human health or environmental 21 effects. 22 (4) A NAEROBIC DIGESTION PROJECTS .—With 23 respect to any grant awarded under subsection 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Dec 31, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6684.IH H6684kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 6684 IH (a)(3)(C) to carry out an anaerobic digestion 1 project, the Administrator shall— 2 (A) require that the applicant submit a 3 plan for end-product recycling that, in accord-4 ance with guidelines the Administrator shall es-5 tablish— 6 (i) provides for the use of the material 7 resulting from the project as a soil amend-8 ment; and 9 (ii) ensures that the use of the mate-10 rial resulting from the project does not cre-11 ate an environmental hazard; and 12 (B) require the eligible entity that is car-13 rying out the project— 14 (i) to limit its use of animal waste to 15 not more than 20 percent of the total feed-16 stock of the project; and 17 (ii) to only use source separated 18 organics as the portion of the total feed-19 stock that is not animal waste. 20 (c) REPORTING.— 21 (1) E FFECT OF USE OF GRANT .—Each eligible 22 entity that receives a grant under this section shall 23 submit to the Administrator a report, at such time 24 and in such form as the Administrator may require, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Dec 31, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6684.IH H6684kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 6684 IH on the results of the use of the grant, which such 1 report shall include any relevant data requested by 2 the Administrator for purposes of tracking the effec-3 tiveness of the program established under subsection 4 (a)(1). 5 (2) ANNUAL REPORT .—The Administrator shall 6 submit to Congress and make publicly available on 7 the website of the Environmental Protection Agency 8 an annual report describing— 9 (A) the effectiveness of the program estab-10 lished under subsection (a)(1) at reducing the 11 amount of food waste by 50 percent by 2035, 12 relative to such amount in 2015, including in-13 formation on the progress of such reduction; 14 and 15 (B) how the Administrator is promoting 16 learning among grantees and other stakeholders 17 to better achieve results. 18 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 19 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 20 $650,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2035, 21 to remain available until expended. 22 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Dec 31, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6684.IH H6684kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 6684 IH (1) A DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-2 mental Protection Agency. 3 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY .—The term ‘‘eligible enti-4 ty’’ means— 5 (A) a State, a local government, a terri-6 torial government, or a Tribal government; 7 (B) a nonprofit organization; or 8 (C) a partnership of two or more of any of 9 the entities described in subparagraphs (A) and 10 (B). 11 (3) F OOD WASTE .—The term ‘‘food waste’’ 12 means any uneaten food and inedible parts of food. 13 (4) F OOD WASTE REDUCTION ACTIVITY .—The 14 term ‘‘food waste reduction activity’’ means any 15 method or activity that reduces the amount of food 16 waste disposed of in landfills or incinerated, includ-17 ing through prevention, rescue, upcycling, and recy-18 cling. 19 (5) N ONPROFIT ORGANIZATION .—The term 20 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization that 21 is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev-22 enue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3)) and is ex-23 empt from taxation under section 501(a) of such 24 Code. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Dec 31, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6684.IH H6684kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 6684 IH (6) P REVENT.—The term ‘‘prevent’’ means to 1 forestall the generation of food waste. 2 (7) R ECYCLE.—The term ‘‘recycle’’ means to 3 reuse food waste as a feedstock for a non-food prod-4 uct. 5 (8) R ESCUE.—The term ‘‘rescue’’ means to re-6 direct surplus food for consumption. 7 (9) SOURCE SEPARATED ORGANICS .— 8 (A) IN GENERAL .—The term ‘‘source sepa-9 rated organics’’ means organic waste that is 10 separated from other waste by the waste gener-11 ator. 12 (B) I NCLUSION.—The term ‘‘source sepa-13 rated organics’’ includes materials that are cer-14 tified to meet ASTM standard D6400 or 15 D6868. 16 (C) E XCLUSION.—The term ‘‘source sepa-17 rated organics’’ excludes mixed solid waste. 18 (10) U PCYCLE.—The term ‘‘upcycle’’ means to 19 make new food from ingredients that otherwise 20 would become food waste. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Dec 31, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6684.IH H6684kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB