City businesses in the food industry are required by Local Law 146 to recycle their organic waste beginning July 1, 2015. But the same law, passed last year, includes a provision that is likely to exempt every one of those businesses indefinitely.
The provision essentially postpones the law's effective date until food establishments have an affordable facility nearby that will recycle their organic waste. The law defines that as "sufficient capacity within a 100-mile radius of the city" that will process the waste at a cost that is competitive with sending it to landfills or incinerators.
But hopes of the law's supporters have dimmed since Peninsula Composting Group was forced to shut its $20 million food-waste operation in Wilmington, Del., in November. It was by far the largest facility of its kind near the city. Waste-industry insiders had anticipated the shutdown because nearby residents complained vociferously about its odor and regulators soon realized that the plant was a mess—so much so that its reopening is uncertain.
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