Milestone in Food Donations Marked in Melville

State officials, along with food bank and grocery representatives, turned out in Melville Thursday to mark a milestone in food donations and waste diversion programs.

Hosted by food programs, Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace in Melville, Sean Mahar, acting commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, announced that Feeding New York State, which includes 10 member food banks, had collected 32 million pounds of food since 2022, under the state’s Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law.

Since 2022, businesses and institutions that generate a yearly average of 2 tons of wasted food per week must donate excess food, and recycle food scraps if they are near an organics recycler.

1. donate excess edible food and
2. recycle all remaining food scraps if they are within 25 miles of an organics recycler (composting facility, anaerobic digester, etc.).

While assisting those in need of food, the donations helped keep millions of pounds out of landfills and reduced the general waste of food. The DEC said it helped fund the Feeding New York State program in its efforts to increase donations, connect with local providers, and improve the healthy of communities.

“Feeding New York families is critical to the long-term health and well-being of communities in every corner of our state,” Mahar said. “This latest milestone shows the success of New York’s Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law, which helps provide healthy, quality food to New York families while reducing greenhouse gases from landfilled waste.”

Representatives of Long Island Cares and Island Harvest were on hand to talk about the successes of working with stores to feed the hungry and keep food out of landfills, and the continuing need for support.