Explanation
1. BACKGROUND
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) issued a Request for Applications (RFA) for approximately $15 million in discretionary grant funding for FY 2023 through its Consumer Recycling Education and Outreach (REO) grant program. This is the second round of funding for this grant program. The final RFA was released on November 14, 2022 and remains open through January 16, 2023.
Section 70402 of the BIL established the Consumer REO Grant Program and provides $75,000,000 for REO grants for Federal Fiscal Years 2022 through 2026 at $15,000,000 per year. Pursuant to Section 70402(b) of the BIL, the purpose of the competitive REO grant program is to improve the effectiveness of residential and community recycling programs through public education and outreach. The Recycling Education and Outreach grant program has the following goals: fund a range of projects that will increase waste prevention activities, increase the collection of recyclable materials and program participation rates, and decrease contamination of the recycling stream; fund projects that focus on commonly recycled materials such as municipal solid waste (e.g., plastics, aluminum, paper, glass, etc.), including food waste and organics; fund projects and provide tools and technical assistance that will lead to long-term, sustained change, benefits, and support beyond the life of the grant. REO grants must: inform the public about residential or community recycling programs; provide information about the recycled materials that are accepted as part of a residential or community recycling program that provides for the separate collection of residential solid waste from recycled material; and increase collection rates and decrease contamination in residential and community recycling programs.
The City meets the criteria to be eligible to submit an application. The Department of Public Service is developing a public education and outreach strategy to improv...
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