Marin’s businesses will have to meet new goals for diverting organic waste from landfills after a statewide mandate took aim at greenhouse gas emissions. Organic waste decomposing in landfills is a significant source of methane, and the county’s new targets—75 percent of organics diverted from landfills and 20 percent of edible food saved from the garbage for human consumption by 2025—come from California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy, also known as Senate Bill 1383. “S.B. 1383 is a complex, multi-faceted law, and it’s the biggest change to solid waste law in California since 1989,” said Steve Devine, a program manager in the Marin County Department of Public Works, at last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting. But, he added, “Marin County, like much of the Bay Area, is way ahead of a lot of communities” because of its nearly universal access to compost collection and public awareness of organic waste as a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. For residents to comply with the new composting rule, they must place all food scraps in their green bins. The ordinance will impose more specific compliance and record-keeping requirements on garbage companies and businesses over a certain size. The largest change for Marin’s businesses will come with the edible food requirement. In order to meet the state’s goals, supermarkets, grocery stores over 10,000 square feet and food wholesalers must now donate the maximum possible amount of edible food that would otherwise end up in the garbage to a food bank or nonprofit; they must keep records of the monthly volume of food donations and sign written agreements with the recipients. By 2024, large restaurants, venues and hotels with more than 200 rooms will also have to be in compliance. “We’re very hopeful that it will change things,” said Will Dittmar, the executive director of Extra Food, one of Marin’s few food recovery programs. Demand currently outweighs supply for the program, which picks up food donated from roughly 125 markets and restaurants and distributes it to 170 local nonprofits and food banks. Mr. Dittmar said recovering food that would otherwise have gone to waste helps fight climate change and food insecurity. Recent supply chain and labor issues have led to a lower volume of donations, he said, but the county’s new ordinance will likely lead to more businesses picking up the phone to call Extra Food. “There are donors who really are maxing out the rescuable food, and there are those who certainly have the right attitude toward it, but it’s not high on their list of priorities,” Mr. Dittmar said. “Without something like S.B. 1383 to incentivize you, you’re probably going to do a quick sort and then throw the rest in the trash.” Most of Marin’s markets are too small to be subject to the new requirements, and West Marin’s largest grocery, the Palace Market, falls under the new rules but already has a rigorous edible food system in place. For 12 hours after prepared foods like sandwiches are taken off the shelf, they’re available for free to the store’s employees. After that, the market donates them to the West Marin Community Services food pantry. “I think donating is a core community principle out here,” store director Brittany Hartwell said. “It’s so part of how we operate our business that I don’t think the new policy would change that.” The edible food waste requirements will likely have the biggest impact on larger commercial food establishments and chain supermarkets, which waste more food than West Marin’s small markets, said Dan Thompson, who owns Inverness Park Market. “I think it has a lot to do with how big you are,” Mr. Thompson said. “Prepared food is a big industry right now and in the larger markets they have huge amounts of things that are already prepared. I often question how they can possibly go through that much in a day.” Supervisors will adopt the S.B. 1383 ordinance on March 1, after which the county will begin enforcing it and imposing fines for violators in 2024.