Document ID: EPA-HQ-RCRA-2015-0836-0015
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Anaerobic Digestion Facilities Processing Wasted Food to Support EPA's Sustainable Food Management Program
Posted Date: 2019-05-22T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 99 (Wednesday, May 22, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23564-23565]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-10705]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-RCRA-2015-0836; FRL-9992-66-OMS]

Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and 
Approval; Comment Request; Collection of Information on Anaerobic 
Digestion Facilities Processing Wasted Food To Support EPA's 
Sustainable Food Management Program (Revision)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an 
information collection request (ICR), Collection of Information on 
Anaerobic Digestion Facilities Processing Wasted Food to support EPA's 
Sustainable Food Management Program (EPA ICR Number 2533.02, OMB 
Control Number 2050-0217) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. 
This is a proposed revision of the ICR, which is currently approved 
through December 31, 2019. Public comments were previously requested 
via the Federal Register on October 3, 2018 during a 60-day comment 
period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its 
estimated burden and cost to the public. An agency may not conduct, or 
sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before June 21, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-
RCRA-2015-0836, to (1) EPA online using www.regulations.gov (our 
preferred method), or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental 
Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, 
Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB via email to 
oira_submission@omb.eop.gov. Address comments to OMB Desk Officer for 
EPA.
    EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the 
public docket without change including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes profanity, threats, information 
claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melissa Pennington, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region 3, Mail Code 3LC33, Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone 
number: (215) 814-3372; fax number: 215-814-3114; email address: 
pennington.melissa@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supporting documents, which explain in 
detail the information that the EPA will be collecting, are available 
in the public docket for this ICR. The docket can be viewed online at 
www.regulations.gov or in person at the EPA Docket Center, WJC West, 
Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The telephone 
number for the Docket Center is 202-566-1744. For additional 
information about EPA's public docket, visit http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    Abstract: EPA's Sustainable Food Management (SFM) Program promotes 
the sustainable management of food which is a systematic approach that 
seeks to reduce wasted food and its associated impacts over its' entire 
lifecycle. The lifecycle of food includes use of natural resources, 
manufacturing, sales, and consumption and ends with decisions on 
recovery or final disposal. Diversion of food waste from landfills is a 
critical component of this effort. In order to effectively divert food 
waste from landfills, sufficient capacity to process the diverted 
materials is required. Knowledge of organics recycling capacity is 
needed to facilitate food waste diversion and anaerobic digestion 
facilities provide a significant amount of the needed capacity.
    EPA's food recovery hierarchy prioritizes potential actions to 
prevent and divert wasted food. According to the hierarchy, processing 
wasted food via anaerobic digestion is a more desirable option than 
landfilling or incineration because it creates more benefits for the 
environment, society and the economy. Anaerobic digestion of food waste 
and other organic materials generates renewable energy, reduces methane 
emissions to the atmosphere, and provides opportunities to improve soil 
health through the production of soil amendments. The SFM program 
supports these efforts by educating state and local governments and 
communities about the benefits of wasted food diversion. The SFM 
program also builds partnerships with state agencies and other 
strategic partners interested in developing organics recycling capacity 
and provides tools to assist organizations in developing anaerobic 
digestion (AD) projects.
    The nationwide collection of data about AD facilities processing 
food waste began in 2017 with a survey of all known AD facilities under 
the currently approved Information Collection Request (ICR). EPA 
published the first annual report of findings based on this data in 
July 2018. EPA is renewing this ICR in order to continue to monitor 
growth and evaluate trends in the capacity for processing of food waste 
and the amount of food waste being processed via AD in the United 
States.
    Data will be collected using electronic surveys that will be 
distributed to respondents by email and will be available on EPA's AD 
website. Participation in this data collection effort is voluntary. 
Respondents are not required to reveal confidential business 
information.
    Form Numbers: EPA Form 6700-03, EPA Form 6700-04, EPA Form 6700-05
    Respondents/affected entities: Project Developers, Project Owners 
or Plant Operators, and Livestock Farmers.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Voluntary.
    Estimated number of respondents: 254 (total).
    Frequency of response: Annually.
    Total estimated burden: 127 hours (per year). Burden is defined at 
5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: $7,594 (per year), includes $0 annualized 
capital or operation & maintenance costs.
    Changes in the Estimates: The overall burden has slightly decreased 
from the original ICR. For this renewal, some questions have been 
revised for clarity, numerous questions have been eliminated and a 
series of questions have been streamlined. The time to complete the 
survey will decrease for operating years 2017, 2018, 2019 and

[[Page 23565]]

2020 for Respondents that previously provided data.

Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Regulatory Support Division.
[FR Doc. 2019-10705 Filed 5-21-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P