COURIER LIFE, OCTOBER 1-7, 2021 3
Brooklynites wait on a food bank line amid the pandemic. Photo by Paul Frangipane
Fighting food
waste and fi nes
Coney pol intros bill to combat food
insecurity and support small biz
BY JESSICA PARKS
One southern Brooklyn pol is hoping
to combat food insecurity across
the fi ve boroughs, while also taking a
load off the city’s small businesses.
Legislation introduced this month
by Coney Island Councilmember Mark
Treyger would create an incentive program
for eateries to donate their excess
food to nonprofi ts and, in turn, catch a
break from certain city agencies.
Treyger’s bill would require the
city’s Department of Sanitation and
Department of Consumer and Worker
Protection to establish violations that
would be eligible for the relief program.
“I think this is a common-sense piece
of legislation that is a win-win on many
levels,” Treyger told Brooklyn Paper. “It
helps address the very real issue of food
insecurity in our city, it helps address
the burden that many of our small businesses
are facing particularly during
the pandemic, and it also helps address
food waste which is a very real issue.”
The bill was introduced before the
City Council’s Committee on Small
Business on Sept. 17, where it received
support from DSNY, who described it
as a sensible plan to bridge the gap between
excess food and food insecurity.
The legislation will go for a vote before
the committee in the coming weeks, followed
by a vote from the full Council.
“The administration agrees with
the intended purpose of this bill,” said
Bridget Anderson, the deputy commissioner
for recycling and sustainability,
“which would offer regulatory relief to
some small businesses while incentivizing
the donation of excess food to
non–profi ts for the purposes of feeding
hungry New Yorkers.”
In a previous feasibility study, the
agency identifi ed businesses covered
by the commercial organics law as potential
candidates for a penalty mitigation
program related to food donation,
Anderson said in her testimony.
The sanitation rep added that the
program should be managed in a way to
not create a network of unwanted foods
and should be careful to not disrupt any
existing partnerships between food establishments
and non-profi ts.
“Any food donation program created
as a penalty mitigation program
should be carefully tailored to avoid
creating a glut of unwanted or inedible
food,” she said. “In addition, many
food businesses already engage in best
practices for food donation and we
should be careful not to disrupt these
existing relationships.”
The legislation states that violations
are only to be waived if the small
business has not received the same violation
or one very similar within six
months, enters into an agreement to
donate excess food for a period determined
by the agency issuing the violation
and provides the department with
documentation from the nonprofi t that
the business completed the agreement.
Treyger’s bill is especially timely,
with City Harvest reporting that food
insecurity has skyrocketed across the
fi ve boroughs since the onset of the
coronavirus pandemic last March.
New York City has gone from 1.3 million
to 1.5 million residents not sure
when their next meal is going to be,
refl ecting a 38 percent increase since
pre-pandemic, according to the city’s
largest food rescue organization.
Additionally, the group says, one
out of three children are experiencing
food insecurity.
“Even before the COVID-19 pandemic,
New York City was facing a profound
hunger crisis particularly in the
marginalized communities that City
Harvest has long served,” reads City
Harvest’s website. “Those numbers
surged during the pandemic and show
no signs of receding.”
NO STOPPING