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The article reports on the release of "A Roadmap to Reduce Food Waste by 20 Percent" by the Fink Family Foundation initiative ReThink Food Waste through Economics and Data (ReFED) in 2016. The project team used data about commercial and industrial food waste generation by business type. The Roadmap adopted the Food Recovery Hierarchy framework of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to categorize the solutions into prevention, recycling and recovery.

The article outlines the technological innovations at materials recovery facilities (MRFs) in the U.S. The glass cleanup equipment at the MRF of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority is highlighted. The use of overhead suction for plastic film recycling by the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp. is also emphasized.

This editorial discusses ecological ramifications that may derive from Michigan and Missouri lifting state bans on introducing leaves, grass clippings and brush into the waste stream. Support for lifting such bans is often provided by local landfill owners who focus on ways in which green waste could boost their landfill gas capture. The author contrasts this methodology with the composting of green wastes and evaluates the efficiency of methane gas capture in landfills.