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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced more than $100 million from President Biden's Investing in America agenda to expand recycling infrastructure and waste management systems across all 56 states, territories, and the District of Columbia. This represents EPA's largest recycling investment in 30 years. The agency selected 25 communities to receive grants totaling more than $73 million under the newly created Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling funding opportunity. In addition, the agency is making available approximately $32 million for states and territories to improve solid waste management planning, data collection and implementation of plans.
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EPA Posts Example Local Government Climate Action Plans that Address Materials Management and Waste
On August 22, 2023, EPA published a list of local government climate action plans that include materials and waste management actions. The examples are not comprehensive, but give an idea of replicable projects in your communities.
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September is Food Loss and Waste Month
USAID is sharing a series of blog posts and resources from partners, featuring examples from the field and actionable recommendations for the development community.
Webinar: Join the September 26, 2023, FLW Theme Month Webinar discussing the interagency collaboration on food loss and waste.
Webinar: The Low Hanging Fruit You’ve Been Missing - State-led Solutions to Tackle Dangerous Climate Pollution from Landfills, Create Economic Opportunity & Benefit Communities
September 26, 12-1:30pm ET
Join Gina McCarthy, former White House national climate advisor and former EPA Administrator, and a panel of practitioners and advocates to discuss state-level emissions data, regulatory approaches, and policies that keep organic waste out of landfills. This webinar is sponsored by RMI and Industrious Labs. Register for this webinar here.
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New data is now available from BioCycle’s nationwide survey of full-scale food waste composting facilities. BioCycle collaborated with the Composting Consortium on this survey and follows a similar survey conducted in 2018. About 200 composting facilities provided data on quantities of food waste and other organics processed, compost produced, sectors served, and more. Read the first in a four-part series in BioCycle summarizing key data and findings from this project.
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Webinar: Food Scrap Diversion for Multifamily Housing
Join program experts from the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute and Austin, Texas, for a discussion about designing, setting up, and maintaining food waste diversion programs for multifamily buildings. Register for this webinar here.
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International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Food Waste Reduction
This year’s theme is Reducing Food Loss and Waste: Taking Action to Transform Food Systems. Learn more here.
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Community Composting 101 Online Certificate Course
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance is offering a Community Composting 101 Online Certificate Course that provides an overview of the importance of and science behind composting and recommended best practices for implementing community-based programs. Enroll for the course here.
Workshop: Compost at Home! ¡Taller del Compostaje Casero!
September 29, 12-1pm ET (in Spanish) September 30, 9-10am ET (in English)
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance is offering free workshops on home composting in English and Spanish. Workshops cover the basics of compost at home using a hot composting or worm composting system. Register for the workshops.
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Webinar: Residential Food Waste Regulatory Strategies
The Northeast Recycling Council and Sure-Close are co-hosting a seminar examining food waste regulations in Vermont and California, the different strategies and how they have been implemented. Learn more and register.
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Webinar: Food Product Labeling: Challenges of Defining Sustainability
October 12, 10:00am-12:00pm ET
The Food Forum will host a webinar on the challenges of defining sustainability for food product labeling. Invited speakers will explore the variables for defining sustainability, the impact of sustainability labeling on consumers, challenges for regulatory agencies, as well as research gaps and future considerations. Register for this webinar.
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Webinar: Serving up Sustainability: From Restaurants to the Home Kitchen
The Illinois Green Alliance will host a webinar on the detrimental effects of waste in the food industry and solutions to this problem. Register for this webinar.
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EPA Announces the Availability of $4.6 Billion in Competitive Grants to Cut Climate Pollution
EPA is announcing the availability of $4.6 billion across two implementation grant competitions, one general competition and one specifically for tribes and territories. Under these funding opportunities, eligible applicants will compete for climate pollution reduction implementation grants to fund measures in their state-, municipality-, tribe-, or territory-specific climate action plans. As part of its application evaluation, EPA will prioritize measures that achieve the greatest reduction in GHG emissions. Measures that address waste and materials management are within the scope.
The deadline to apply to the general competition is April 1, 2024. The deadline to apply to the Tribes and territories competition is May 1, 2024. EPA estimates that the implementation grants will be awarded in Fall 2024 for the general competition and in Winter 2024-2025 for the Tribes and territories competition.
EPA will hold two informational webinars about the general competition on September 21, 2023 at 2:30 pm and October 3, 2023 at 3:00 pm (same content for both), and two informational webinars about the tribes and territories competition on September 27, 2023 at 2:00 pm and October 5, 2023 at 1:00 pm (same content for both). All times are Eastern Time. These one-hour webinars will provide more detailed information on the implementation grants competitions. Register for the webinars here.
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EPA Seeks Applicants for 2023 Environmental Education Grants
EPA announces that up to $3.6 million in funding for locally-focused environmental education grants is now available under the 2023 Environmental Education Local Grant Program. EPA will award grants in each of EPA’s 10 Regions, between $50,000-$100,000 each, for a total of 30-40 grants nationwide. The program includes support for projects that reflect the intersection of environmental issues with climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, preventing future water quality and human health issues, in addition to other environmental topics.
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The program provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Agricultural producers may also apply for new energy efficient equipment and new system loans for agricultural production and processing. Funds may be used for the purchase and installation of renewable energy systems, including anaerobic digesters.
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USDA NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grants are dedicating $65 million for the development of new tools, approaches, practices, and technologies for natural resource conservation on private lands.
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Community Food Projects (CFP) is a competitive grants program that is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Grants are intended to help eligible nonprofits, tribal organizations, and food program service providers in need of a one-time infusion of federal assistance for projects that promote self-sufficiency and food security in low-income communities; $4,800,000 is available.
NIFA will host a technical assistance webinar for those interested in this grant program on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 2pm EDT. Register for the webinar here.
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These grants cover a wide variety of topics and eligible entities. Total anticipated funding for FY2024 is $300 million. The 2023 RFA for AFRI’s Foundational and Applied Science Program identifies the following priority program areas, some of which include food waste reduction as a sub-topic and/or eligible initiative:
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Plant health and production and plant products;
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Animal health and production and animal products;
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Food safety, nutrition, and health;
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Bioenergy, natural resources, and environment;
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Agriculture systems and technology; and
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Agriculture economics and rural communities.
Application deadlines: August through November 2023, depending on program area.
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Mention of or referral to commercial products or services, and/or links to non-EPA sites does not imply official EPA endorsement of or responsibility for the opinions, ideas, data, or products presented at those locations, or guarantee the validity of the information provided. Mention of commercial products/services on non-EPA websites is provided solely as a pointer to information on topics related to environmental protection that may be useful to EPA staff and the public.
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By subscribing to the newsletter, you will receive periodic announcements about resources, events, webinars, funding opportunities, and more from EPA and our partners. Topics include circular economy, reduce/reuse/recycle, food loss and waste, electronics, plastics, municipal solid waste, and the built environment.
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