Vermont lawmakers postpone food scrap pickup

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Vermont lawmakers have voted to postpone until 2020 a mandate that the state’s waste haulers pick up food scraps.

The original plan to offer curbside pickup of food scraps this year was part of a universal recycling law passed in 2012.

Vermont Public Radio reports the bill passed May 12 puts the Department of Environmental Conservation in charge of studying whether there should be changes to the law.

The department’s Solid Waste Management Program Manager Cathy Jamieson says it may make more sense to have food scrap pickups in densely populated areas. She says many people in rural areas do their own compost.

Either way, Jamieson says food waste will be banned from landfills in 2020.

The department has until Jan. 19, 2019 to submit their report to the Legislature.

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Information from: WVPS-FM, http://www.vpr.net