Food

Wasted food accounts for almost 25% of our solid waste stream (EPA, 2018). Rather than disposing of excess food, consider donation, upcycling or composting. According to the EPA Wasted Food Scale, source reduction is the best way to reduce surplus food (e.g., improving food storage and consumption practices), followed by donation to feed hungry people and animals before diverting to industrial uses and composting. Disposal in landfills and incinerators is least preferred, and is now prohibited in certain scenarios as described further below.

Prevent Wasted Food (Source Reduction)

Save money and avoid wasting edible food by preventing wasted food at home! Make sure you store your food properly and understand what "Best by" and "Sell by" dates really mean.

• SaveTheFood.com interactive storage guide with tips, tricks and information to keep your food fresh and tasty for as long as possible.
• Watch Video: Meal Planning and Other Tips (1-minute).
• Watch Video: Understanding Date Labels (2-minutes).

Food Donations

Have excess edible food? Contact your local food pantry, soup kitchen, veterans’ home, or shelter to put quality, edible food to its highest and best use. Ask ahead of time to learn what they will accept for donation. 

Food donation guidance:

• Harvard Food Law & Policy Clinic
  • Federal Liability Protection for Food Donation – Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act.
  • State-specific food waste fact sheets – Information about date labels, feeding food scraps to animals, liability protections and tax incentives.
• Northeast Waste Management Officials’ Association (NEWMOA) Fact Sheet: Food Donation.

Where to donate excess food in New Hampshire:

• New Hampshire Food Bank Distribution Map.
• University of New Hampshire (UNH) Food Access Map.
• UNH Map of New Hampshire Farms.

Food Scrap Composting

Food scraps can be combined with other organic material (e.g., leaf and yard waste, untreated wood shavings, sawdust, paper products, small quantities of ash from household woodstoves) to make compost. Compost is a nutrient-rich soil amendment that can build soil health, prevent erosion and improve plant growth. Composting your food scraps helps conserve landfill space and helps to reduce greenhouse emissions associated with decomposition of organic materials in landfills.

Options for managing food scraps:

• Compost at home or in a community setting, like a community garden.
• Sign up for a curbside food scrap collection program with a hauler servicing your town.
• Drop off your food scraps at a facility authorized to accept source-separated organics (farm, commercial composting facility, transfer station, etc.)

Does my town collect food scraps?

Ask your local transfer station staff or check the Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) Composting and Food Waste Diversion Map.

• NEWMOA Guide to Backyard Composting.
• Watch Video: How to Compost at Home (2 minutes).
• Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) Home Composting Basics webpage.
• ILSR Community Composting BMP Guide.
• Composting Association of Vermont On-Farm Composting Toolkit.

New Hampshire's Food Waste Disposal Ban

Effective February 1, 2025, entities generating 1 or more tons of food waste per week are prohibited from disposing their excess food in a landfill or incinerator provided there is an alternative management facility within 20 miles that has capacity to accept the food (see RSA 149-M:27, V).

Alternative management facilities may include food banks, food pantries, farms, composting facilities and anaerobic digesters. The intent of the law is to spur development of more food management infrastructure across the state that aligns with the New Hampshire Waste Management Hierarchy and the EPA Wasted Food Scale. As infrastructure develops over time, it will enable more food waste generators to divert their excess food to better uses.

Households are not currently subject to the food waste disposal ban. Instead, the law focuses on larger businesses and institutions such as grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, correctional facilities and universities. For more information about the ban, contact Jenny Mitchell by email or phone (603) 271-7465.

Questions? 

Please contact the Solid Waste General Helpline via email at solidwasteinfo@des.nh.gov or by phone at (603) 271-2925.

Visit our Managing My Waste page to learn about other types of household waste.