Dive Brief:

• The U.S. EPA on Monday announced $117 million will be available for three new funding opportunities for recycling projects. Tribes, intertribal consortia and local governments can apply for funds, which builds on a historic amount of money awarded for recycling projects last year.
• The agency will award $78 million through the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant program, including $20 million for tribes and intertribal consortia and $58 million for local governments below the state level. 
• It will also select a single applicant for a $39 million Recycling Education and Outreach grant. For that opportunity, EPA is looking for a coalition that will create three projects: a national campaign to reduce consumer food waste, a project to boost compost sales and a project to educate households on compost.

Dive Insight:

The funding for the SWIFR and REO programs largely comes from $350 million set aside by the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act passed in 2021. The law is expected to fund the EPA's recycling efforts through fiscal years 2025 and 2026.

Last year, the EPA awarded $105 million through the SWIFR program to local governments and $60 million to tribes and intertribal consortia. It also awarded $33 million in REO grants. 

The agency has also awarded funding for waste-related projects through the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, most recently to tribal communities, and similar initiatives. The Biden administration has said much of the funding will benefit communities that are under-resourced and overburdened with pollution, in keeping with its Justice40 Initiative. 

"EPA is deploying unprecedented resources to improve recycling services and increase educational outreach to communities," EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement Monday. "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."

The newly announced SWIFR grants are intended to support “projects that will improve collection, transport, systems, and processes related to post-use materials,” the EPA announced. Previous projects funded through the SWIFR program include a compost facility in Baltimore, a MRF in Ohio and a curbside collection program in Puerto Rico, among others.

Communities will compete for awards ranging from $500,000 to $5 million each out of a $58 million pot. Their applications are due Dec. 20, 2024. Tribes and intertribal consortia will compete for awards ranging from $100,000 to $1.5 million each out of a $20 million pot. Their applications are due March 14, 2025. 

The newly announced REO grant builds on priorities laid out in the EPA’s National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics. The interagency strategy, finalized and announced in June, laid out new action items for the federal government to work toward a goal of halving food waste per capita by 2030. It highlighted funding support for organics recycling and composting specifically as a priority, in addition to food recovery and loss reductions.

The strategy also called for a national food waste prevention campaign like the one to be funded through the REO grant. The document said such a campaign would leverage partnerships with the agency’s U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions, a list of 45 corporations that includes grocers, beverage makers, food conglomerates and venues like Hilton and Walt Disney World Resort.