EPA gets $6.5B to fund food-waste reduction in underserved communities
S. 3443 — Zero Food Waste Act · Filed by Cory Booker (D-NJ) · Introduced Dec 11, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a $650 million per year federal grant program (2026–2035) run by the EPA to help states, cities, nonprofits, and tribes reduce food waste by 50% by 2035. Eligible recipients can use grants to study food waste, collect data, fund waste-reduction projects (like composting or food rescue), implement pricing or disposal restrictions, or provide technical assistance. Priority goes to communities of color, low-income areas, and tribal communities.
Why we flagged it
The bill establishes a straightforward federal grant mechanism to fund food-waste reduction activities across states, localities, and nonprofits. It is a standard environmental/public-health appropriations measure with no hidden provisions or narrow beneficiaries.
What the text implies
- Waste-management companies (e.g., WM) may see reduced landfill tipping fees if food waste diverts to composting/anaerobic digestion, potentially affecting revenue from disposal services.
- Grants may fund infrastructure (composting facilities, anaerobic digesters) that creates long-term operational demand, benefiting waste-management and environmental-services contractors.
- Prioritization of low-income and communities of color may reduce environmental-justice disparities in landfill siting and air quality, but success depends on implementation and enforcement.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens benefit from reduced landfill burden, potential lower waste-disposal costs, improved environmental health, and targeted investment in underserved communities. The program is transparent, broadly accessible, and designed to address a genuine public problem with no obvious private carve-outs or hidden costs to consumers.
Who stands to gain
- waste management and environmental services companies
- composting and anaerobic digestion technology providers
- nonprofit food-rescue organizations
- state and local government environmental agencies
Named in the bill
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), WM (Waste Management, Inc.), state and local governments, tribal governments, nonprofit organizations, ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials)
Where it stands
- Dec 11, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Dec 11, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
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.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“EPA gets $6.5B to fund food-waste reduction in underserved communities” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s3443 Report an error
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