Grant watch

Resource Recycling highlights recent industry-related grant awards and opportunities. If your company or organization has a funding opportunity to share, contact [email protected] to be included here.

Dec. 17, 2024: Massachusetts awarded $4 million in waste and recycling grants to 285 municipalities and regional solid waste districts. Dec. 12, 2024: The U.S. EPA selected 105 programs to receive a total $1.6 billion via the Community Change Grants Program, which go to local, on-the-ground projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience and build community capacity. That includes organics and recycling initiatives.

Dec. 6, 2024: Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy provided over $5 million in grants to support recycling access projects in Metro Detroit, Genesee County, Lansing, Southwest Oakland County, Isabella County, Van Buren County, Marquette County, Sterling Heights and Madison Heights.

Dec. 5, 2024: Massachusetts granted 21 recycling businesses a combined $1.8 million via the Recycling and Reuse Business Development Grant Program. 

Dec. 4, 2024: Allen County, Indiana, received a federal grant to support and expand battery recycling. It will cover about 50% of the cost of the county’s “Stop the Spark” program for the next three years, which provides free battery recycling containers for residents.

Nov. 21, 2024: Nine Louisiana schools will split $45,000 in funding from the EPA Gulf of Mexico Trash-Free Waters Grant for projects focused on reducing or recycling single-use plastic products.Nov. 15, 2024: The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery opened its Recycled Glass Processing Incentive Grant Program, with applications due Dec. 19. The grant program is for applicants who demonstrate the ability to expand glass cullet processing in the state.

Nov. 14, 2024: Cook County, Illinois launched a Municipal Recycling Grant Program to provide recycling in underserved communities, awarding $1 million to fund curbside services in the cities of Posen, Phoenix and Dixmoor.

Oct. 30, 2024: California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery opened applications for the Increased Recycling of Empty Glass Beverage Containers Grant Program, which provides funding for regional pilot programs that supply bins for collection of empty glass beverage containers from restaurants and on-sale retail licensed establishments.

Oct. 18, 2024: American Beverage granted the Township of Hamilton, New Jersey and the Atlantic County Utilities Authority $148,000 to upgrade curbside recycling bins as the city automates its curbside collection.

Oct. 7, 2024: American Beverage granted Syracuse, New York $728,000 to upgrade curbside recycling bins as the city automates its curbside collection.

Oct. 4, 2024: New Hampshire the Beautiful granted $18,000 in Recycling Equipment Grant funding for six New Hampshire towns and the Coös County Recycling Center.  

Oct. 3, 2024: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced $2.5 million in grant funding for municipalities seeking to start or expand food scraps recycling programs and facilities.

Oct. 2, 2024: The United States Conference of Mayors and the American Beverage Association is accepting grant applications through Oct. 18 for environmental health and sustainability initiatives, including projects that encourage and improve residential recycling rates, reduce contamination, address litter clean up and reduce food waste. A total of $745,000 will be awarded to nine cities. 

Sept. 24, 2024: California opened its annual Beverage Container Quality Infrastructure Grant Program, with applications due Oct. 15. $47.5 million is available for infrastructure costs related to sorting of empty beverage container material.

Sept. 16, 2024: The U.S. EPA announced another round of diversion-related grant availability, including $78 million in Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grants and $39 million for education and outreach related to food waste and composting.

August 28, 2024: The Alabama Department of Environmental Management awarded more than $2.5 million in grants from the Alabama Recycling Fund to 17 cities and organizations, including $164,500 to the Alabama Recycling Coalition to help increase recycling in the state through education. 

August 26, 2024: American Beverage awarded a $305,600 grant to South Lake Refuse to improve the recycling infrastructure for 19,100 South Lake Tahoe residents.

August 15, 2024: Antrim and Greenfield, New Hampshire received grant funds from New Hampshire the Beautiful for new equipment at their transfer stations. Antrim received the maximum available grant of $5,000 to help buy an electric forklift and Greenfield received $1,500 to purchase two storage containers for scrap metal and demolition materials. 

August 13, 2024: Purdue Fort Wayne in Indiana received two grants from the U.S. Department of Energy totaling more than $500,000 for recycling research. One is a two-year, $100,000 grant to create a machine to sort plastic bottles with more specificity and the other is $400,000 for battery sorting technology.

July 31, 2024: The Indiana Department of Environmental Management Community Recycling Grant Program is open, providing up to $100,000 grants to assist solid waste management districts, counties, municipalities, schools, universities and nonprofit organizations in their efforts to increase recycling and waste reduction. The application period closes Sept. 6.

July 25, 2024: The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio has several grants open, to support waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting in Franklin County. Applications for both the Community Waste Reduction grant and the Event Waste Reduction grant close on Aug. 2.

July 23, 2024: The Pennsylvania Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority announced a mini grant program, which would give funds back to Centre County municipalities, businesses, recycling collection haulers, schools, health care institutions and nonprofits based on the performance of their recycling initiatives.

July 23, 2024: Fayette County, Texas was awarded a $20,000 grant from the H-E-B Community Recycling Grants program to help buy a baler for PET plastics and to create educational materials.

July 18, 2024: The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation awarded nearly $333,000 in grants for Education and Outreach and Organics Management.

July 16, 2024: Centerville, Georgia received a $324,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to upgrade and relocate its recycling facility.

July 15, 2024: Walhalla, South Carolina received a nearly $16,000 solid waste grant to purchase new containers and provide recycling education. The grant came from the state Office of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling.

July 12, 2024: Batteries Plus was selected for a $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains to spearhead a nationwide initiative to increase battery recycling.

July 1, 2024: Circular Arizona, formerly the Arizona Recycling Coalition, opened its annual grant, scholarship and awards program for Circular Arizona members. Applications and nominations are due Oct. 4.

July 1, 2024: Cobb County, Georgia was awarded a $500,000 U.S. Department of Energy grant for the county to build a Center for Hard to Recycle Materials, upgrade electric vehicle charging infrastructure and develop a sustainability action plan.

June 20, 2024: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources opened applications for the E-Cycle Wisconsin Electronics Collection Grant and plans to award up to $100,000 total in grants. Applications are due July 31, 2024.

June 20, 2024: New Hampshire the Beautiful distributed $19,000 in Recycling Equipment Grant funding to five New Hampshire towns: Antrim, Greenfield, Littleton, Washington and Waterville Valley. The grants will be used for electric trucks, storage containers and skid-steers. 

June 20, 2024: The Vinyl Institute announced its fourth round of funding, giving $332,000 in total to three organizations through its VIABILITY recycling grant program. Receiving organizations were the Chemical Fabrics and Films Association, Every Shelter and the University of Michigan.

June 13, 2024: American Beverage granted West Haven, Connecticut $256,000 for larger curbside recycling carts for 16,000 households. 

June 12, 2024: The U.S. Department of Agriculture opened applications for its Composting and Food Waste Reduction program, which provides funding to local and tribal governments, schools and other entities for composting infrastructure.

June 12, 2024: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded about $2 million to Hampton Roads, Virginia for its “Start Smart, Recycle Right” recycling education and outreach program. Funding came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

June 7, 2024: American Beverage awarded DeKalb County, Georgia a $25,000 grant to buy a baler for the nonprofit Live Thrive’s Center for Hard to Recycle Materials.

June 3, 2024: American Beverage awarded Shrewsbury, Massachusetts a $185,600 grant to provide new recycling containers for nearly 12,000 households.

May 31, 2024: American Beverage awarded $986,000 to McKinney, Texas, for curbside recycling carts for 58,000 households, and to provide an education and outreach campaign to reduce contamination.

May 21, 2024: Big Lake Elementary School in Anchorage, Alaska received a $3,000 grant from local companies to start a food scrap collection program, with the material given to local farmers for livestock feed.

May 20, 2024: The city of Holland, Michigan got a $38,368 grant from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to install cameras with AI, GPS units and computers on city recycling trucks to watch for contamination. Any flagged contamination will generate a notice to the resident. The Recycling Partnership and Canadian robotics startup Prairie Robotics are partners on the project.

May 13, 2024: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced millions of dollars in grants for 73 recycling and waste reduction projects. There are 29 recycling-specific grants worth $4.6 million for counties to buy recycling equipment. The other grants are for composting grants ($15.4 million) and household hazardous waste ($1 million).

May 1, 2024: Indiana is accepting grant proposals for recycling projects from businesses, local governments, solid waste management districts and others in the industry. It is looking for grant proposals between $50,000 and $500,000, with funds coming through the Indiana Recycling Market Development Program.

April 25, 2024: The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency awarded the Fayette Soil & Water Conservation District $40,000 for tire amnesty events, part of a total $1.6 million in grants the Ohio EPA is giving to local governments, businesses and nonprofit organizations to implement recycling, litter prevention, market development and scrap tire recycling programs. 

April 25, 2024: Otter Tail County’s Solid Waste was awarded $250,000 in grant funding from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to implement its recycling feasibility study.

March 25, 2024: The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection will open applications for its first round of 2024 Reduce, Reuse, Repair Micro-Grants on April 1. The submission deadline is May 15. Micro-Grants are up to $10,000 and will be provided as a reimbursement for projects that reduce waste generation and extend the life of products through donation, rescue, reuse and/or repair in the state.

March 6, 2024: The U.S. EPA awarded the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians a $653,120 grant to expand recycling infrastructure and increase circular waste management. Funded by the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling program for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians will update its recycling center on the reservation. 

Feb. 20, 2024: American Beverage and The Recycling Partnership granted Rockford, Illinois $225,000 to help the city modernize its curbside recycling program. The funds are part of the Every Bottle Back Initiative and will allow the city to upgrade from 32-gallon recycling bins to universally provided 64-gallon recycling carts.Feb. 8, 2024: New Hampshire the Beautiful awarded three towns grants for recycling equipment totaling $8,000. Alstead, Epsom, New Hampshire was awarded $1,440 to help purchase a 40-yard roll-off container to collect and transport recyclables. Lee, New Hampshire was awarded $5,000 for a Kubota skid-steer to replace a 20-year old model. Northfield, New Hampshire was awarded $1,654 to purchase two storage containers.

Feb. 2, 2024: The Vinyl Institute awarded four companies grants totaling almost $740,000 to advance PVC recycling. The companies are Oligomaster of Hamilton, Ontario; Exeon Processors of Jonesboro, Indiana; PolyJoule of Billerica, Massachusetts; and Allied Industries International of Jonesville, South Carolina. The grants are part of the Vinyl Institue’s Viability grant program, which plans to distribute $3 million over a three-year period. 

Jan. 23, 2024: The Foodservice Packaging Institute’s Foam Recycling Coalition (FRC) granted Goodwill’s Green Works $50,000 to buy a foam densifier. Green Works is a non-profit industrial recycler and subsidiary of Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit. The equipment will allow about 1 million residents in Detroit and neighboring communities to recycle materials such as foam polystyrene cups, plates, bowls, take-out containers, egg cartons and block packaging foam. The resulting foam ingots will be sold to be manufactured into thermal insulation panels for foundations, walls and roofs, as well as picture frames and crown molding. Goodwill’s Green Works is the 34th grant recipient to receive FRC funding since 2015.

View past grants at the Grant Watch Archive