aflynn@lakeplacidnews.com
SARANAC LAKE The state Department of Environmental Conservation will hold virtual public hearings on the Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Act, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2022. Yet it is unclear how many businesses and institutions in the Tri-Lakes region may be affected. Organic material is the largest component of the municipal solid waste stream in the United States, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology’s New York State Pollution Prevention Institute. About 40% of all food produced for U.S. consumption, about 63 million tons, ends up in the waste stream, occupying a lot of space and generating a lot of methane gas into the atmosphere.