Tax break for food-waste recycling excludes low-income households
H.R. 3166 — Local Food Recycling and Regenerative Opportunities Act · Filed by Marilyn Strickland (D-WA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced May 1, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a federal tax credit allowing homeowners to deduct 30% of the cost of food-waste recycling appliances (up to $300) and organic waste collection services (up to $120 per year) from their federal income taxes. The credit expires December 31, 2031, and applies to appliances installed and services used starting in 2026.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a straightforward residential tax credit for food-waste diversion appliances and services. It is transparently structured but benefits higher-income households disproportionately because tax credits require sufficient tax liability to claim.
What the text implies
- Tax credit structure excludes lower-income households without sufficient tax liability, limiting environmental benefit to affluent communities.
- Sunset clause (Dec 31, 2031) creates uncertainty for waste-management service providers and may discourage long-term infrastructure investment.
- Appliance and service markets may see demand concentration among higher-income zip codes, potentially widening environmental-justice disparities.
- No requirement for participating waste-management services to meet environmental standards or transparency benchmarks; credit is available for any 'qualified' service.
Who it affects
The credit reduces out-of-pocket costs for households adopting food-waste diversion, supporting environmental goals and potentially lowering landfill burden. However, the benefit is regressive—it accrues primarily to higher-income households that can afford the appliances and services, and it is structured as a tax credit (not a rebate), meaning lower-income households without sufficient tax liability receive no benefit.
Who stands to gain
- Residential food-waste appliance manufacturers (e.g., Lomi, Vitamix, Vitamix-owned brands)
- Organic waste collection and composting service providers
- Waste management companies offering food-waste diversion programs
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Code Section 25F, Waste Management Inc. (WM), Food-waste appliance manufacturers, Organic waste service providers, IRS
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- May 1, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 1, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $90,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 1 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Marilyn Strickland, the sponsor, reported $767,699 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Mill Industries, Inc. (formerly Known As Chewie Labs) — $90,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jun 8, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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