Zero Food Waste Act

II 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 3443 To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to provide grants to reduce the quantity of food waste, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 11, 2025 Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protec- tion Agency to provide grants to reduce the quantity 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) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 (1) A DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-7 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-8 mental Protection Agency. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:42 Dec 26, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3443.IS S3443kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 3443 IS (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY .—The term ‘‘eligible enti-1 ty’’ means— 2 (A) a State, a local government, a terri-3 torial government, or a Tribal government; 4 (B) a nonprofit organization; and 5 (C) a partnership of 2 or more of any of 6 the entities described in subparagraphs (A) and 7 (B). 8 (3) F OOD WASTE .—The term ‘‘food waste’’ 9 means any uneaten food and inedible parts of food. 10 (4) F OOD WASTE REDUCTION ACTIVITY .—The 11 term ‘‘food waste reduction activity’’ means any 12 method or activity that reduces the quantity of food 13 waste disposed of in landfills or incinerated, includ-14 ing through prevention, rescue, upcycling, and recy-15 cling. 16 (5) N ONPROFIT ORGANIZATION .—The term 17 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization de-18 scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 19 Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under sec-20 tion 501(a) of that Code. 21 (6) P REVENT.—The term ‘‘prevent’’ means to 22 forestall the generation of food waste. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:42 Dec 26, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3443.IS S3443kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 3443 IS (7) R ECYCLE.—The term ‘‘recycle’’ means to 1 reuse food waste as a feedstock for a nonfood prod-2 uct. 3 (8) R ESCUE.—The term ‘‘rescue’’ means to re-4 direct surplus food for consumption. 5 (9) SOURCE SEPARATED ORGANICS .— 6 (A) IN GENERAL .—The term ‘‘source sepa-7 rated organics’’ means organic waste that is 8 separated from other waste by the waste gener-9 ator. 10 (B) I NCLUSION.—The term ‘‘source sepa-11 rated organics’’ includes materials that are cer-12 tified to meet ASTM standard D6400 or 13 D6868. 14 (C) E XCLUSION.—The term ‘‘source sepa-15 rated organics’’ does not include mixed solid 16 waste. 17 (10) U PCYCLE.—The term ‘‘upcycle’’ means to 18 make new food from ingredients that otherwise 19 would become food waste. 20 (b) PROGRAM.— 21 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall 22 establish and carry out a program to award competi-23 tive grants in accordance with paragraph (3). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:42 Dec 26, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3443.IS S3443kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 3443 IS (2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program es-1 tablished under paragraph (1) is to help reduce the 2 quantity of food waste by 50 percent by 2035, rel-3 ative to that quantity in 2015. 4 (3) GRANTS.— 5 (A) S TUDY ON FOOD WASTE GENERATION 6 AND FOOD WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANNING .— 7 Under the program established under para-8 graph (1), the Administrator may award a 9 grant to an eligible entity, excluding any eligible 10 entity that is a nonprofit organization— 11 (i) to study— 12 (I) the generation of food waste 13 in the State or area in which the eligi-14 ble entity is located or otherwise 15 serves; and 16 (II) policies and programs that 17 significantly reduce the quantity of 18 food waste, including policies and pro-19 grams to carry out food waste reduc-20 tion activities; and 21 (ii) to develop a plan under which the 22 eligible entity will carry out at least 1 food 23 waste reduction activity, prioritizing pre-24 vention to the extent practicable. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:42 Dec 26, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3443.IS S3443kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 3443 IS (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— 5 (i) to collect data on the quantity of 6 food waste generated in the State or area 7 in which the eligible entity is located or 8 otherwise serves; and 9 (ii) to publish, on any publicly avail-10 able website (which may include the 11 website of a nongovernmental organiza-12 tion), a monthly or quarterly report on the 13 data collected 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— 18 (i)(I) to carry out or otherwise sup-19 port a food waste reduction activity; 20 (II) to implement a differential pric-21 ing policy on the disposal of food waste— 22 (aa) to disincentivize disposing of 23 food waste by incineration or deposit 24 in a landfill; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:42 Dec 26, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3443.IS S3443kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 3443 IS (bb) to incentivize carrying out 1 food waste reduction activities; 2 (III) to pay for or provide technical 3 assistance to carry out a food waste reduc-4 tion activity; 5 (IV) to implement restrictions on dis-6 posing of food waste by incineration or de-7 posit in a landfill; 8 (V) to implement food waste reduction 9 activity requirements; 10 (VI) to implement demand-stimulating 11 policies for recycling end-markets; or 12 (VII) to carry out any other activity 13 the Administrator determines will reduce 14 the quantity of food waste in the applicable 15 area; and 16 (ii) to collect data and publish reports 17 as described in subparagraph (B). 18 (c) APPLICATIONS.— 19 (1) I N GENERAL .—To apply for a grant under 20 this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 21 Administrator an application at such time and in 22 such form as the Administrator may require, which 23 shall demonstrate how the eligible entity will use the 24 grant in accordance with subsection (b)(3). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:42 Dec 26, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3443.IS S3443kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 3443 IS (2) N ONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS .—In the case 1 of an application under paragraph (1) from an eligi-2 ble entity that is a nonprofit organization, the appli-3 cation shall include— 4 (A) a letter of support for the proposed 5 use of the grant from— 6 (i) the relevant local government, ter-7 ritorial government, Tribal government, or 8 State; or 9 (ii) another nonprofit organization 10 that— 11 (I) has a demonstrated history of 12 undertaking work in the geographic 13 region where the proposed use of the 14 grant is to take place, as determined 15 by the Administrator; and 16 (II) would not be involved in the 17 proposed use of the grant; and 18 (B) any other information the Adminis-19 trator may require. 20 (3) P RIORITIZATION.—In awarding grants 21 under this section, the Administrator shall— 22 (A) seek to award grants for use in diverse 23 locations and for diverse uses; and 24 (B) prioritize awarding grants to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:42 Dec 26, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3443.IS S3443kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 3443 IS (i) any eligible entity, excluding any 1 eligible entity that is a nonprofit organiza-2 tion, that— 3 (I) implements a program to 4 carry out food waste reduction activi-5 ties; or 6 (II) has a demonstrated need, as 7 determined by the Administrator, for 8 additional investment in infrastruc-9 ture or other resources to be able to 10 implement a program to carry out 11 food waste reduction activities; or 12 (ii) an eligible entity that will use the 13 grant in accordance with subsection 14 (b)(3)(C)(i) in a community of color, low- 15 income community, or Tribal community 16 that has been disproportionately affected 17 by adverse human health or environmental 18 effects. 19 (4) A NAEROBIC DIGESTION PROJECTS .—With 20 respect to any grant awarded under subsection 21 (b)(3)(C) to carry out an anaerobic digestion 22 project, the Administrator shall— 23 (A) require the applicant to submit to the 24 Administrator a plan for end-product recycling 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:42 Dec 26, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3443.IS S3443kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 3443 IS that, in accordance with guidelines the Adminis-1 trator shall establish— 2 (i) provides for the use of the material 3 resulting from the project as a soil amend-4 ment; and 5 (ii) ensures that the use of the mate-6 rial resulting from the project does not cre-7 ate an environmental hazard; and 8 (B) require the eligible entity that is car-9 rying out the project— 10 (i) to limit its use of animal waste to 11 not more than 20 percent of the total feed-12 stock of the project; and 13 (ii) to only use source separated 14 organics as the portion of the total feed-15 stock that is not animal waste. 16 (d) REPORTING.— 17 (1) E FFECT OF USE OF GRANT .—Each eligible 18 entity that receives a grant under this section shall 19 submit to the Administrator a report, at such time 20 and in such form as the Administrator may require, 21 on the results of the use of the grant, which shall 22 include any relevant data requested by the Adminis-23 trator for purposes of tracking the effectiveness of 24 the program established under subsection (b)(1). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:42 Dec 26, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3443.IS S3443kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 3443 IS (2) ANNUAL REPORT .—The Administrator shall 1 submit to Congress and make publicly available on 2 the website of the Environmental Protection Agency 3 an annual report describing— 4 (A) the effectiveness of the program estab-5 lished under subsection (b)(1) in reducing the 6 quantity of food waste by 50 percent by 2035, 7 relative to that quantity in 2015, including in-8 formation on the progress of that reduction; 9 and 10 (B) the means by which the Administrator 11 is promoting learning among grantees and 12 other stakeholders to better achieve results. 13 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 14 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 15 $650,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2035, 16 to remain available until expended. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:42 Dec 26, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3443.IS S3443kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB