A System Ready for Change
Do you remember the Choose Your Own Adventure era? The time when readers could flip the pages of popular books and decide how the story would end? Illinois is in one of those moments right now.
This time, food security, compost, climate and jobs are the main characters, and you are on the adventure. Welcome to Part 2 of our Illinois Needs Compost blog series. This chapter is about pivoting from programs to policy.
Carry-out often presents problems by significantly contributing to food waste.
Illinois’ food management system is antiquated and wasteful. Approximately one-third of food is sent to landfills – in Illinois, and nationwide – where it slowly rots without oxygen and produces methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. In addition to this environmental impact, the economic cost includes all of the resources put into growing, transporting, storing, and disposing of food that isn’t eaten.
We have spent the last ten years building collection infrastructure and growing compost programs. Now, it’s time to move the needle statewide.
Senate Bill 2852 — the Food Recovery and Diversion Bill — offers a pragmatic, cost-conscious pathway forward.
Prepared foods are often discarded due to overproduction or overordering.
What SB2852 Does
Senate Bill 2852 establishes a clear, phased framework to divert millions of pounds of food every year for human and animal consumption and significantly reduce the amount of methane produced by landfills in the State.
Producing food that is never eaten uses enormous amounts of water, energy, labor, and land.
Feed and Conserve Illinois is the movement behind SB2852, a coalition formed in early 2025 with three simple goals: feed people, feed animals, and compost food scraps. Senator Adriane Johnson (30th District) introduced SB2852 to help Illinois create a more resilient, economically sound, and environmentally responsible food system.
“When we divert edible food from landfills—reducing dangerous gases like methane that drive climate change—it’s a win-win-win-win for people, animals, the environment and our economy.” Senator Adriane Johnson.
Senator Johnson tours Midwest Organics Recycling’s compost facility in July 2024 with supporters of Feed and Conserve Illinois.
Choose Wisely
If this were a Choose Your Own Adventure book, there would be many possible outcomes. But there is a “best” ending — and it happens if SB2852 becomes law.
Wasted food is… a critical resource.
Millions of Illinois residents face food insecurity, while millions of pounds of recoverable surplus food are wasted each year in communities across the state. [Food Recovery Infrastructure Assessment]
Wasted food is….an economic opportunity.
SB2852 will create a circular economy for food and food scraps, strengthening local infrastructure and markets. [Benefits Fact Sheet]
Wasted food is…compost.
SB2852 will reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers and increase organic material in soils. [IFSCC Retrospective]
Wasted food is…a pathway to new jobs.
SB2852 will create employment opportunities by accelerating the development of food recovery infrastructure and new food scrap processing facilities. [NRDC Study]
Wasted food is…a climate solution.
SB2852 will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by diverting food scraps from landfills. [Green Era Fact Sheet]
Public education empowers individuals to compost and understand its benefits.