Food Waste Diversion Efforts Not as Effective as Hoped, UCSD Study Finds

A box of food scraps that will be composted sits at the Norcal Waste Systems transfer station in San Francisco on April 21, 2009. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

SAN DIEGO—While well-intentioned, the first several states attempting to divert food waste from landfills and incinerators posted just a 20 percent success rate, according to a study published Thursday.

The study, published in Thursday’s issue of Science, “was conducted by researchers at the UC San Diego Rady School of Management. They found that of the first five states to adopt food waste bans, Massachusetts was the only one to have shown marked success.”