Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants for Communities
Please note: the “Recycling Grants for Political Subdivisions” are also called the “Recycling Grants for Communities.”
On this page:
- Overview
- Eligible Applicants
- Eligible Activities
- Available Funding
- Anticipated Award Process and Timeline
- Optional Notice of Intent to Apply
- How to Apply
- Resources
- Updates
- Round One Grant Information
Overview
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $275,000,000 total from Fiscal Year 2022 to Fiscal Year 2026 for grants authorized under the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act. Projects funded through the funding opportunity 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.
Eligible Applicants
The entities eligible to apply for the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants for Communities are political subdivisions of states and territories. EPA considers counties, cities, towns, parishes, and similar units of governments that have executive and legislative functions to be political subdivisions of states and territories. Read the Eligible Applicants section of the SWIFR for Communities Notice of Funding Opportunity (pdf) .
Eligible Activities
Materials and waste streams within scope of this funding opportunity 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:
- Programs that provide or increase access to innovative solutions or programs that provide or increase access to prevention, reuse, and recycling in areas that currently do not have access; including development of 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.
- Construction of and/or upgrades to composting facilities or anaerobic digesters to increase capacity for food and organics recycling.
- Education and outreach activities as a minor element of larger eligible projects that are funded by the grant.
- Development of or upgrades to curbside collection programs or drop-off stations for organics.
- Development of and/or upgrades to reuse infrastructure (e.g., online reuse platforms, community repair spaces, technology and equipment to improve materials management reuse options, food donation, upcycling, staging areas for material reuse/donation, reuse warehouses, reuse centers, and electronic waste and computer recycling and refurbishing) and/or
- Other activities that the applicant believes will further the objectives of the NOFO provided those activities are eligible for funding under statute and the terms of the NOFO.
Available Funding
The total estimated funding for the competitive opportunity is approximately $58,000,000. EPA anticipates awarding approximately 20 to 30 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 $5,000,000 for the grant period. This funding opportunity is in alignment with the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative.
How to Determine Eligibility for Program Track
As described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, projects will be funded under two tracks:
- Track 1: Projects that benefit disadvantaged communities as defined in the NOFO. EPA anticipates approximately 40% (or $23,200,000) of the funding will be awarded to projects that benefit disadvantaged communities.
- Track 2: Projects that benefit all other communities that do not meet the definition of disadvantaged communities.
Applications must clearly indicate and provide adequate proof that the proposed project(s) fall under Track 1 or Track 2. If an application does not provide adequate proof that it qualifies for Track 1, EPA reserves the right to automatically re-assign an application to Track 2. Applicants must submit a screenshot of CEJST proving that it meets one or more of the eight disadvantaged categories identified in the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) developed by the Council on Environmental Quality, along with a brief narrative to illustrate that the proposed project will benefit a disadvantaged community. Applicants from territories can attest that they are located in a territory without submitting a screenshot of CEJST. If a project is intended to serve multiple communities, only one needs to be meet the definition of disadvantaged community as defined by the CEJST or be located in a U.S. Territory in order to be considered a Track 1 application.
Anticipated Award Process and Timeline
Optional Notice of Intent to Apply
To allow for efficient management of the competitive process, EPA requests submittal of an optional, informal Notice of Intent to Apply by November 15, 2024 to SWIFR@epa.gov. Please include your approximate funding amount, the track under which you are applying (refer to Section I.E: Program Tracks of the NOFO for more information), and one to two sentences about the scope of your project. Submission of an Intent to Apply is optional. The Notice of Intent to Apply is not required but it is a process management tool that will allow the EPA to better anticipate the total staff time required for efficient review, evaluation, and selection of submitted applications.
How to Apply
Applicants must submit applications through grants.gov by December 20, 2024. Applicants should read the Notice of Funding Opportunity (pdf) for the full solicitation. The NOFO describes the funding opportunity, including information about applicant eligibility, award application, submission, review, and administration.
Resources
- This Funding Opportunity in grants.gov.
- Round Two SWIFR for Communities Notice of Funding Opportunity (pdf)(Closes on December 20, 2024).
- Submit Your Notice of Intent to Apply by November 15, 2024 to SWIFR@epa.gov.
- Optional Resources (please note that use of these resources is optional and applicants who do not use them will not be penalized):
- SWIFR for Communities Project Narrative Attachment Form (docx) (includes the Summary Information Cover Letter and the Narrative Proposal)(doc).
- SWIFR for Communities Budget Table and Description Spreadsheet (xlsx) .
- SWIFR for Communities Milestones (docx) .
- SWIFR for Communities Application Checklist (pdf) .
- Prepare for a Grant.
- Model Recycling Program Toolkit.
- Frequently Asked Questions about Build America, Buy America for EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management Programs (pdf).
Updates
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Need More Help?
If you have questions about the grants, email SWIFR@epa.gov.
Round One Grant Information
Recipients and Selectees
On September 13, 2023, EPA announced the selectees for the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants for Communities.