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Tag Archives: local programs

Organics collection programs take care, creativity

Published: October 29, 2024
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Person with food scraps for composting.

Compost Power uses metroStor bins to collect organics without attracting rats and has added its own graphic wraps to the bins to engage the community. | Gargonia/Shutterstock

Setting up successful organics diversion – whether statewide or just in one city – requires creativity, flexibility and a strong education campaign, presenters at WasteCon 2024 told attendees.  Continue Reading

Building and reaching: EPA opens grant applications

Published: October 15, 2024
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Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.

This article appeared in the October 2024 issue of Resource Recycling. Subscribe today for access to all print content.

If you missed the chance to grab a slice of the $198 million federal recycling grant pie last year, your second chance has arrived.

More than $100 million is available to local governments, Native tribes and other organizations for either recycling infrastructure on one hand or public education around the topics of food waste and composting on the other, the U.S. EPA announced in September. The announcement came as recipients of the first round in 2023 began hiring staff, collecting data, buying equipment and launching local outreach campaigns.

All of those millions came courtesy of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which allocated hundreds of billions of dollars to transportation, energy and other sectors.

“Thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, EPA is deploying unprecedented resources to improve recycling services and increase educational outreach to communities,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a written statement. “When we work together to prevent waste that contributes to climate change, we support local economies, create jobs that pay well, and better protect the health of everyone in the community.”

As in the first round, the new grant program prioritizes proposals that would benefit “communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution” while bolstering a more circular economy nationwide, according to the announcement. It’s available in three buckets:

  • Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grants for federally recognized tribes and intertribal consortia: $20 million total for individual grants ranging from $100,000 to $1.5 million, to establish, grow or otherwise improve recycling collection and management systems. As of this writing, applications are due March 14, 2025.
  • SWIFR grants for political subdivisions of states and territories, such as cities and counties: $58 million total for individual grants from $500,000 to $5 million, for the same purposes as the tribal grants. Applications are due Dec. 20.
  • Recycling education and outreach: a single $39 million grant for a coalition project that would implement a national consumer food waste reduction campaign, increase the market for compost and boost education and outreach about composting. Applications are due Dec. 20.

Applying for federal grants can be an intimidating process, requiring meticulous documentation and detailed planning. But it’s also an arena where even small organizations that have never received a federal grant before can succeed, said Jill Buck, founder and board member of the Go Green Initiative. The California-based nonprofit received $1.1 million last year, its first EPA grant ever, to work with school district staff and high school students in Camden, New Jersey, to spread understanding and participation in recycling programs.

“It’s not for the weak of heart, I will tell you that,” Buck said of the application process, adding that applicants should start early and take advantage of EPA’s informational sessions and other technical assistance. “This is the ultimate reading comprehension exercise; you really have to be fastidious and have tremendous attention to detail when it comes to the instructions.”

Fitting all of the needed information within the page limit can feel “like squeezing a watermelon into a Coke bottle,” she said. “Then you need to demonstrate that you can handle the money.”

A clear and compelling purpose also helps, said Susan Caswell, sustainability director for Florida’s Osceola County. The county received about $750,000 for an education and demonstration effort with a particular focus on glass, which the county had to give up in its bids for county-wide recycling and trash pickup service in 2019 — “every single potential vendor asked us to remove glass,” Caswell said. Yet why the county doesn’t recycle glass is still one of the most frequent questions she hears, and some residents pay a private service to collect it.

The education campaign will work with local schools and feature a mobile glass pulverizer, not only to process the material right in front of residents’ own eyes but also to harness the latent interest in glass to inspire recycling initiatives in the area, Caswell said. The area is full of hotels and restaurants, for example, which generate “just a tremendous amount of glass.”

“We went for the education and outreach kind of as the first step in rethinking glass recycling for the county,” Caswell said. “It allowed us to tell that story in an effective way.”

Projects such as these also highlight how the EPA grants can have ripple effects, both in their targeted communities and in others that might follow their example. Buck said the New Jersey plan — particularly environmental clubs, internships and leadership development for high school students — already proved itself in Pleasanton, California. Since the Go Green Initiative launched a similar project almost a decade ago, the city has seen recycling rates and collections rise while contamination fell by 27%, according to a letter from the city to the EPA.

“They were getting out to businesses and church groups and civic organizations,” Buck said of the Pleasanton students. And as Caswell put it, when it comes to the youth, “if you get them engaged in it, then they start getting on their parents’ case to do better.”

Iowa Waste Exchange sees recycling challenges shift

Published: October 8, 2024
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Among the most challenging materials at the Iowa Waste Exchange is the abundance of post-use wind turbine blades. | Jim Cork/Shutterstock

Regional waste exchange platforms are not uncommon, but Iowa’s faces a bigger challenge than many: wind turbine blades.

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British Columbians cooperated to recycle more in 2023

Published: September 17, 2024
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The Stewardship Agencies of BC is a coalition of extended producer responsibility organizations, including Call2Recycle Canada, Return-It, the Electronic Products Recycling Association, Recycle BC and others. | MAXSHOT.PL/Shutterstock

The Stewardship Agencies of British Columbia worked together to divert a record 425 million kilograms of end-of-life products from landfills in 2023, and leaders pointed to factors including the efficiency and education that collaboration brings.  Continue Reading

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Louisiana glass processor expands footprint, services

Published: August 20, 2024
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Glass Half Full broke ground on their new facility, which will give the grassroots glass recycling company the capacity to create cullet as well as sand. | Courtesy of Glass Half Full

Glass Half Full leaders knew the company needed a bigger facility as soon as they opened the first one. Now, as the concrete slab for a new space is poured on the coast of Louisiana, cofounder and CEO Franziska Trautmann is already imagining the three acres filled with glass.
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Recycling council emphasizes importance of supply

Published: July 30, 2024
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The Northeast Recycling Council published a “Guide to Increasing Recycling Supply,” a resource to help build up local material supply. | Aquarius Studio/Shutterstock

With industry-wide attention on building up recycled material end user demand, the Northeast Recycling Council is urging materials recovery stakeholders not to forget about ensuring there is adequate supply. Continue Reading

Tackling rural recycling transportation in Colorado

Published: July 9, 2024
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trucking and logistics

The Front Range Transload project brings together rail company BNSF, trucking companies, brokers and the City of Pueblo. | Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock

One of the biggest barriers to recycling in remote and rural areas is transportation. The Circular Economy Development Center is tackling the issue in Colorado with the Front Range Transload project. Continue Reading

Iowa notched a 49% container recovery rate in 2022

Published: June 18, 2024
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Used beverage cans for recycling

Of the nine other bottle-bill states, only Massachusetts and Connecticut reported lower container rates in 2022, at 38% and 45% respectively. | Kwangmoozaa/Shutterstock

Iowa had the third-lowest container recovery rate among the ten states with deposit return systems, the 2022 Recovery Rate report found, although part of that figure is based on estimation.  Continue Reading

Oregon’s 2022 recovery tonnage misses goal

Published: May 29, 2024
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The State of Oregon seal at a park in Salem, Ore.

Oregon residents generated about 6.1 million tons of material in 2022, with 3.7 million tons going to landfills and incinerators and 2.4 million tons recovered. | JPL Designs/Shutterstock

The amount of material Oregonians disposed of in 2022 dropped significantly from the year before, but that was largely due to fewer building-destroying wildfires, according to the latest state Material Recovery and Waste Generation Rates report.  Continue Reading

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Organics program leaders share lessons learned

Published: May 20, 2024
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Waste Expo 2024 in Las Vegas featured multiple sessions focusing on food waste and other organics diversion. | Randy Andy/Shutterstock

Detailed data, strong community ties and a willingness to try something new are essential ingredients for a successful organics diversion program, speakers from across the continent said earlier this month.  Continue Reading

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