Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposed Food Recovery and Recycling Act was removed during final negotiations and left out of New York's FY18 state budget agreement. The program would have required commercial establishments generating over two tons of food waste per week to divert it for recycling.

Despite advocacy from wide range of public, private, and NGO groups that included meetings, calls, and letters - and despite evidence to the contrary - many NY Senate conservatives saw it as an "unfunded mandate" that would drive up costs for waste generators.

Although the Governor's office and state Department of Environmental Conservation were rumored to be willing to compromise by offering exemptions to generators that fell outside a 30 mile radius from operating organics recycling facilities, it was not enough to win over opposition.