On Tuesday, the Oregon House Committee on Climate, Energy, and Environment advanced HB 3018, with a vote of 7 -4. The bill would be a crucial step in tackling Oregon’s growing food waste problem. Between 2016 and 2023, the state wasted more than 800,000 tons of food annually, even as 1 in 8 Oregonians struggle with food insecurity.
The bill would standardize food date labeling practices to clearly communicate food quality and safety, reducing consumer confusion around labels such as “sell by”, which contribute to 10% of food waste. It would also require large generators of food waste to sort scraps and excess food for composting. This component was modeled after a successful program in the Portland Metro Region, which has diverted 54,457 tons of food waste from landfills since the program launched in 2022.
“A massive amount of food is being sent to Oregon’s landfills while people across the state continue to go hungry. That simply doesn’t make sense. With more than 3,000 bills introduced in the 2025 legislative session, we’re grateful that our leaders have chosen to prioritize solving this crucial problem. Given the time, resources and hard work that go into producing our food, the last thing we should do is let it end up in the trash.”
The bill now heads to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.
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Composting and recycling
