EcoLocate

In July 2026, the Planning Unit of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) had to decide where to locate the state's food waste processing facilities. New legislation required each of New Jersey's 21 solid waste management districts to adopt its own food waste reduction strategy, and the counties generating the most food waste were often the same ones already carrying a disproportionate environmental burden. To compare options, the planners turned to EcoLocate, a county-level decision-support model that builds alternative facility networks by balancing cost, geographic access, and environmental justice. Cost and distance could be estimated, but how much weight to give environmental justice was a policy choice the model could represent but not make.

In this case, students examine the New Jersey food waste legislation adopted between 2017 and 2026 and its implications for facility planning. They work with the EcoLocate planning model, explore how its parameters and environmental justice settings shape the recommended network, and consider which network the state should pursue.