Deadline: 22-May-23
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking applications for its Region 8 Sustainable Materials Management Grant.
EPA Region 8 (the Region) is soliciting applications that address the national and regional priority of decreasing the environmental impact of materials with a focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs, EPA Overview of Greenhouse Gases). This funding opportunity is designed to both decrease materials generated (source reduction) and increase the diversion of materials through reuse, recycling, and other strategies.
Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) is a voluntary program of EPA. SMM is a systemic approach to reducing, using, and reusing materials more productively over their entire life cycles to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduce other impacts on the environment related to the use of natural resources and environmental protection.
Goals and Objectives
- Tackle the Climate Crisis
- Reduce Emissions that Cause Climate Change
- Accelerate Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts
- Advance International and Subnational (Regional) Climate Efforts
- Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice and Civil Rights
- Promote Environmental Justice and Civil Rights at the Federal, Tribal, State, and Local Levels
- Embed Environmental Justice and Civil Rights into EPA’s Programs, Policies, and Activities
- Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement in Communities with Environmental Justice Concerns
- Enforce Environmental Laws and Ensure Compliance
- Hold Environmental Violators and Responsible Parties Accountable
- Detect Violations and Promote Compliance
- Ensure Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities
- Improve Air Quality and Reduce Localized Pollution and Health Impacts
- Reduce Exposure to Radiation and Improve Indoor Air
- Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All Communities
- Ensure Safe Drinking Water and Reliable Water Infrastructure
- Protect and Restore Waterbodies and Watersheds
- Safeguard and Revitalize Communities
- Clean Up and Restore Land for Productive Uses and Healthy Communities
- Reduce Waste and Prevent Environmental Contamination
- Prepare for and Respond to Environmental Emergencies
- Ensure Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment
- Ensure Chemical and Pesticide Safety
- Promote Pollution Prevention
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $45,000
- Award Ceiling: $25,000
- Award Floor: $10,000
Activities
- Promotion of source reduction – Source reduction, also known as waste prevention, means reducing waste at the source (reducing waste in the first place), and is the most environmentally preferred strategy. It can take many different forms, including reducing consumption, substituting materials, limiting packaging, redesigning products, changing practices, reducing toxicity, equipment or technology modifications, process or procedural modifications, reformulation or redesign of products, substitution of raw materials, improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training or inventory control, Environmentally Preferred Purchasing (EPP), or modifying a production process to produce less waste.
- Source reduction can:
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change
- Save natural resources
- Conserve energy
- Reduce pollution
- Reduce the toxicity of the waste
- Save money for consumers and businesses alike
- Promotion of reuse – Reuse involves the recovery or reapplication of salvaged, usable materials or products in a manner that maintains items in their original form. Reuse takes advantage of embodied carbon and energy, resources, and impacts already incurred in the production of original products such as lumber, refillable glass bottles, reusable food storage containers, refurbished wood pallets, and repaired electronics.
- Examples of reuse include:
- Repurposing building materials through deconstruction, salvage, or building retrofits
- Implementing reusable or refillable containers instead of disposable containers
- Promoting the ability to repair consumer goods
- Establishing tool or equipment libraries to facilitate communal reuse of those items
- Promotion of market development – Increased demand for diverted materials (waste that is recycled, composted, or diverted from disposal) will enhance opportunities for expansion of existing sustainable materials management capacity as well as development of new capacity.
- Projects may include:
- Feasibility studies
- Technology and process evaluations
- Technical assistance, outreach, and/or training to model or accelerate solutions
- Outreach workshops
- Improvements to the collection or quality of materials feedstocks
- Evaluating or developing solutions to barriers that support source reduction, or reuse of materials
- Expanding processing capacity (training, improved efficiency)
- Developing or improving feedstock collection networks
Eligibility Criteria
- In accordance with Assistance Listing EPA’s Policy for Competition of Assistance Agreements applications will be accepted from:
- States (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.
- Consistent with the definition of Nonprofit organization at 2 CFR § 200.1, the term nonprofit organization means any corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization that is operated mainly for scientific, educational, service, charitable, or similar purpose in the public interest; is not organized primarily for profit; and uses net proceeds to maintain, improve, or expand the operation of the organization. The term includes tax-exempt nonprofit neighborhood and labor organizations.
- Individuals and for-profit organizations are NOT eligible for funding under this opportunity. Nonprofit organizations that are not exempt from taxation under section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code must submit other forms of documentation of nonprofit status; such as certificates of incorporation as nonprofit under state or tribal law. Nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that lobby are not eligible for EPA funding as provided in the Lobbying Disclosure Act.
- Partnerships: Groups of two or more applicants may choose to form a partnership and submit a single application under this RFA; however, one eligible applicant must be responsible for the grant. Partnerships must identify which eligible organization will be the recipient of the grant and which organization(s) will be sub awardees of the recipient.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.