Recycling and Waste Reduction Grants
Grant Opportunities through EPD
The Recycling, Waste Reduction, and Diversion (RWD) grant program provides funding to local governments to support waste reduction and recycling.
The Local Government Scrap Tire Abatement Reimbursement (STAR) program provides funding to aid scrap tire clean up.
Grant opportunities specific to environmental education can be found at EEinGeorgia.org.
There are grants offered through GA EPD in other branches. Click here for more details.
Federal Government Grant Opportunities
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) grant program. A total of $275,000,000 has been allocated to support projects that will:
- Implement the building a circular economy for all strategy series
- Improve local post-consumer materials management programs, including municipal recycling
- Make improvements to local waste management systems
Entities eligible to apply for this grant are political subdivisions (counties, cities, towns, parishes, and similar units of governments) of states and territories.
The SWIFR grant closes January 16, 2023.
The EPA also released the Consumer Recycling Education and Outreach (REO) grant program. A total of $75,000,000 has been allocated to support projects that will:
- Inform the public about residential or community recycling or composting programs
- Provide information about the materials that are accepted as part of residential or community recycling or composting programs
- Increase collection rates and decrease contamination across the nation
Entities eligible to apply for this grant include states and territories, political subdivisions, federally recognized tribal governments, native Hawaiian organizations, non-profit organizations, and public-private partnerships.
The REO grant closes January 16, 2023.
Federal grant opportunities, including SWIFR and REO, can be searched at Grants.gov.
The Recycling Partnership Grant Opportunities
The Recycling Partnership (TRP) is a leading, national force dedicated to improving recycling. TRP provides resources, reports, and grant opportunities to local governments.
Current grant opportunities include:
Residential Curbside Recycling Grant
The Residential Curbside Recycling Cart Grant Program presents communities with the opportunity to apply for grant funding to convert bin or bag based curbside recycling programs to carts or to implement new cart-based curbside recycling programs. Applications for funding are accepted on an ongoing and continuous basis, and communities that receive funding for carts will also be offered financial and technical assistance in support of recycling education and outreach.
The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and TRP are accepting requests for proposals (RFP) for aluminum beverage can capture grants, sponsored by Ardagh Group and Crown Holdings. The grants will fund eddy currents, robots, and other required equipment or process improvement activities to capture used beverage cans at Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs). The Recycling Partnership was selected as the initiative’s strategic partner to fulfill several critical roles in the grant program including evaluating and assessing the proposals submitted.
Several local governments in Georgia are recipients of grant funding from TRP.
Glass Recycling Foundation Grants
The Glass Recycling Foundation (GRF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The GRF’s mission is to promote the preservation of the environment through supporting and promoting effective glass recycling efforts. The GRF is dedicated to increasing material recovery and connecting glass generators with end markets.
The GRF’s grant program is intended to increase glass recovery and diversion from landfills, and to connect glass generators with end-markets and is available to nonprofit entities, municipal, county, city, and state governments, glass collectors, material recovery facilities, and manufacturers.
Recycling Infrastructure Grant Program
The Southeast Recycling Development Council (SERDC) will offer funding to deliver needed recycling infrastructure in the Southeast through the launch of a recycling infrastructure grant program. Investment in physical infrastructure, such as recycling carts, material recovery facility (MRF) upgrades, recycling trucks or transfer stations to unlock investments in curbside recycling infrastructure, are key to dramatically increasing material recovery - connecting material generation with hungry end markets in the southeast and helping to close the loop for packaging. Funding is available only to local governments and non-profit organizations within the 11-state (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) SERDC region. Local governments include municipalities, counties, waste districts, waste and utility authorities, local government cooperatives and other local government organizations that are charged with collection of residential recyclables.