Check Out the EPA’s Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants

As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the EPA is awarding $275,000,000 in grants to local governments for Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $275,000,000 through FY 26 for grants authorized under the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act. Projects funded through the grant program 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.

Only political subdivisions of states and territories (such as counties) can apply for this grant.

The total estimated funding for the currently available competitive opportunity is approximately $40,000,000. EPA anticipates awarding approximately 25 assistance agreements under this funding opportunity, with at least one award per each EPA Region. The minimum individual award floor is $500,000, and the maximum individual award ceiling is $4,000,000 for the grant period.

Eligible Activities

Materials and waste streams within the scope of this grant program include municipal solid waste, including plastics, organics, paper, metal, glass, and construction and demolition debris. This also includes the management pathways of source reduction, reuse, sending materials to material recovery facilities, composting, and industrial uses (e.g., rendering, anaerobic digestion), and feeding animals.

All applications must achieve one or more of the following objectives:

  • Establish, increase, expand, or optimize collection and improve materials management infrastructure.
  • Fund the creation and construction of tangible infrastructure, technology, or other improvements to reduce contamination in the recycled materials stream.
  • Establish, increase, expand, or optimize capacity for materials management.
  • Establish, improve, expand, or optimize end-markets for the use of recycled commodities.
  • Demonstrate a significant and measurable increase in the diversion, recycling rate, and quality of materials collected for municipal solid waste.

Applications may include (but are not limited to) projects that fund:

  • Innovative solutions and/or programs that provide or increase access to prevention, reuse, and recycling in areas that currently do not have access; including development of and/or upgrades to drop-off and transfer stations (including but not limited to a hub-and-spoke model in rural communities), etc.
  • The purchase of recycling equipment, including but not limited to sorting equipment, waste metering, trucks, processing facilities, etc.
  • Upgrades to material recovery facilities (MRFs) such as optical sorters, artificial intelligence, etc.
  • Development of and/or upgrades to composting facilities or anaerobic digesters to increase capacity for organics recycling.
  • Development of and/or upgrades to curbside collection programs or drop-off stations for organics.
  • Development of and/or upgrades to reuse infrastructure such as online reuse platforms, community repair spaces, technology and equipment to improve materials management reuse options, food donation, and upcycling, staging areas for material reuse/donation, reuse warehouses, and reuse centers, and electronic waste and computer recycling and refurbishing.

Read more about the grant program.

Read more from NACo.

Don’t miss Public Works: More Than Just Filling Potholes panel at the MACo Winter Conference! 

Public works is easily one of the most central functions of a local government. Beyond just filling potholes, this department maintains the lion’s share of critical infrastructure that communities rely on – everything from road maintenance to permits and, in some cases, even airports. Interacting with municipal, state, and federal partners, public works departments do much more than the average resident realizes. This panel will dive into the ins and outs of technical challenges, major funding concerns, and recent federal actions.   

MACo’s Winter Conference, “Hit the Ground Running,” will be held at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Hotel in Cambridge, MD from January 4-6, 2023 (with a pre-conference orientation for new county officials on January 3). 

Learn more about MACo’s Winter Conference: 

Check out the award videos. 

Check out the full list of winners and honorable mentions.