Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants for Communities
NOTICE: At this time, EPA anticipates releasing the next Notice of Funding Opportunity in the fall of 2024. Note that the information on the page below reflects the first round of Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling funding. Sign up for our listserv to stay connected and we'll notify you when we post the NOFO for the second round of funding on Grants.gov.
Please note: the “Recycling Grants for Political Subdivisions” are also called the “Recycling Grants for Communities.”
On this page:
- Grant Selectees
- Overview
- Eligible Applicants
- Eligible Activities
- Available Funding
- Award Process and Timeline
- Resources
- Webinars
- Updates and Questions
Grant Selectees
On September 13, 2023, EPA announced the selectees for the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants for Communities. Read about the selectees.
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 Request for Applications for the full details (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:
- 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.
- Development of or upgrades to composting facilities or anaerobic digesters to increase capacity for organics recycling.
- Development of or upgrades to curbside collection programs or drop-off stations for organics.
- Development of 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.
Available Funding
The total estimated funding for the competitive opportunity was 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. This funding opportunity is in alignment with the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative.
How to Determine Eligibility for Program Track
As described in the Request for Applications, projects will be funded under two tracks:
- Track 1: Projects that benefit disadvantaged communities as defined in the RFA. EPA anticipates approximately 40% (or $12,000,000) 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.
To help applicants determine which track to apply under and if they qualify for the statutory set-aside, EPA provided information and resources below. Applicants should use screenshots and any other available information to assist EPA staff in determining their eligibility. Applicants who have difficulty using the tools should contact SWIFR@epa.gov for assistance.
Determining Eligibility for Track 1
Under this announcement, projects serving disadvantaged communities may apply to Track 1. A disadvantaged community is defined as a community that meets at least one of the following criteria:
1. is located in a U.S. Territory (Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands);
2. 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.
3. is a Census-defined rural community that is at or above the 65th percentile for low income AND 80% or more of individuals 15 or older are not enrolled in higher education; or
4. is located in Indian country, is a former Indian reservation in Oklahoma (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior), or is an Alaskan Native Villages as defined in Public Law 92–203.
To check your eligibility under Criteria 2 and 3:
- Under criterion 2, an applicant should use a screenshot of CEJST along with a brief narrative to illustrate that the proposed project will benefit disadvantaged communities.
- Under criterion 3, an applicant should use screenshots of the map located below along with a brief narrative to illustrate that their proposed project will benefit disadvantaged communities. Areas that are eligible are highlighted in blue. Applicants may use their street address, city, or ZIP code to search, and should take a screenshot to demonstrate that they are located in or their project will benefit a rural area.
Award Process and Timeline
Resources
- Prepare for a Grant.
- Grant Request for Applications (pdf). (closed February 15, 2023)
- Funding Opportunity in Grants.gov.
- Questions and Answers document (pdf).
- Presentation slides from the first set of webinars:
- Presentation slides from the second set of webinars:
Webinars
EPA held webinars about this funding opportunity.
Below you can find details about the first set of webinars:
| Date | Time (Eastern) | Presentation Slides | Webinar Recordings |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 5, 2022 | 2:00 - 3:30 pm | ||
| December 7, 2022 | 6:00 - 7:00 pm | Refer to the links above. |
In these webinars, EPA provided an overview of the request for applications, eligible entities, evaluation criteria, and the application process. We covered the same material in both webinars and answered questions.
Below you can find details about the second set of webinars:
| Date | Time (Eastern) | Presentation Slides | Webinar Recordings |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 13, 2022 | 2:00 - 3:30 pm | ||
| December 19, 2022 | 6:00 - 7:00 pm | Refer to the links above. | Refer to the links above. |
EPA covered procurement and subawards in these webinars. We covered the same material in both webinars and answered questions.
Updates and Questions
Question and Answer Document
EPA developed formal responses to questions and comments (pdf) about the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants for Political Subdivisions (EPA-I-OLEM-ORCR-23-03) and the Recycling Education and Outreach Grants (EPA-I-OLEM-ORCR-23-02).
Stay Connected
Sign up for updates about our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law programs!
Need More Help?
If you have questions about the grants, email SWIFR@epa.gov.