Brickbat: Are You Going to Eat That?

A California law mandating that grocery stores and restaurants donate unused food to food banks took effect in January, and the state has already received more than 500 requests for waivers from rural towns and counties. Some local officials in rural areas said that they do not have the infrastructure required for composting food that cannot be donated, and many food banks in rural areas said they don't have the resources to collect all of the food that would be donated. "I can't send the truck all over town, picking up leftover sandwiches," said Tom Dearmore, director of community services at the Butte County Community Action Agency, which operates a food bank serving an area of 8,000 square miles in six northern California counties.