Deadline: 1-Jun-21
EPA Region 5 (R5) is soliciting applications that address the Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) priorities.
SMM is a systemic approach to using and reusing materials more productively over their entire lifecycles. It represents a change in how their society thinks about the use of natural resources and environmental protection.
Priority Areas
At least one of the two following SMM priorities must be addressed as part of this RFA:
- Addressing Municipal and/or Industrial Recycling Markets in Region 5: Recycling is an important driver of the United States’ economy and a way to conserve their resources and protect the environment. Recycling reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators; conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals; and decreases wasted energy by reducing the need to extract and process new raw materials. Project examples under this priority include, but are not limited to:
- establishing and maintaining a collaborative network in Region 5 to foster improved approaches to the collection, marketing, and distribution of municipal and/or industrial recycling materials and provide feedstock to manufacturers in the U.S.;
- developing methods to improve market information, and/or connection between markets (e.g. different geographic locations, industries, consumers, and generators, etc.) for recovered municipal and/or industrial recyclable material;
- Distributing information or establishing programs that encourage public or private partners to utilize or invest in recycled municipal and/or industrial materials, and ultimately support economic development around recycled materials markets.
- Strategies for Preventing Food Loss and Waste through Source Reduction and/or Food Rescue in Region 5: Currently 30-40% of all available food in the U.S. goes uneaten. When wholesome, edible food ends up in a landfill, embedded natural resources along with money, time, and labor spent to get them from farm to plate, are also wasted. This impacts the environment, their communities and the economy. Project examples under this priority include, but are not limited to:
- establishing and maintaining a collaborative network in Region 5 to foster improved approaches to focusing on source reduction and food rescue strategies;
- increasing public awareness of the environmental, social, and economic benefits of reducing wasted food via source reduction and distribution to people, particularly in underserved and under-resourced communities;
- improving data quality, including establishing baseline food waste metrics, assessing progress on current food waste intervention activities, or measuring the potential for increased food rescue efforts;
- Â Encouraging the development of policies and practices which effectively divert excess food to new markets and/or expands food rescue capacity.
Funding Information
- The total estimated funding range expected to be available for awards under this competitive opportunity is between $100,000 to $150,000.
- EPA anticipates awarding three cooperative agreements under this announcement ranging in value from $30,000 to $60,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applications will be accepted from State (including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands), local, Tribal, interstate, and intrastate government agencies and instrumentalities, and non-profit organizations that are not 501(c)(4) organizations that lobby, including non-profit educational institutions and non-profit hospitals.
- Non-profit organization, as defined by 2 CFR Part 200.70, means any corporation, trust, association, cooperative or other organization that:
- is operated primarily for scientific, educational, service, charitable or similar purposes in the public interest; (2) is not organized primarily for profit; and
- uses its net proceeds to maintain, improve and/or expand its operations
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=332931