The Business Food Waste Mitigation Grant Program is designed to reduce business-generated food waste in New York State.  The program will divert food waste from landfill and combustion facilities thereby advancing a key strategy from NY’s Climate Action Council’s Scoping Plan. Food waste makes up 18% of the total municipal solid waste in New York. Reducing the disposal of food waste is key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Successful business food waste mitigation projects are those that will expand food waste recycling infrastructure in the State to reduce commercial food waste sent to landfill and combustion facilities. The program provides grants to cover costs of equipment purchased for the purpose of building new, or expanding existing, organics recycling facilities to accept food waste from large-scale businesses, at a minimum.

The program is a $4 million initiative administered by Empire State Development and focuses on reducing large-scale business food waste through capital equipment grants awarded to municipalities and not-for-profit organizations applying on behalf of themselves or a New York State Business. 

Grants will be awarded competitively and will range from $100,000 - $750,000.  Funds can be used for machinery and equipment related to mitigating business food waste. Ultimately, the program seeks to expand the State’s organics recycling infrastructure so facilities can accept food waste from large-scale businesses such as restaurants and grocery stores, resulting in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Eligible Entities:  New York State municipalities and non-profit / not-for-profit organizations undertaking a food waste mitigation project. 

OR 

New York State municipalities and non-profit / not-for-profit organizations may apply on behalf of a New York State-based business undertaking a food waste mitigation project.  In this scenario, the New York State business would be considered a co-implementor. 

Please refer to the Program Guidelines for more information.
 

Eligible Projects include the purchase of machinery and equipment for the purpose of collecting, processing, and recycling food waste from businesses, and the distribution of byproduct(s) such as compost.  

Examples of eligible equipment include: 

• processing equipment (e.g. compactor, dehydrator, depackager, windrow turner, grinder);
• management equipment (e.g. forklift); and
• transportation equipment (e.g. trucks).

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Applications must be completed via the Consolidated Funding Application (CFA). Applications must be received by 4:00 PM May 23, 2025.
 

Please refer to the Program Guidelines and Term and Conditions documents for detailed program information. If you have questions, email [email protected]. Procurement policies prohibit direct email responses, however, your question and respective answer will be included in our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) updated weekly as needed.