Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia
On this page:
- Overview
- Eligible Applicants
- Eligible Activities
- Available Funding
- Anticipated Award Process and Timeline
- How to Apply
- Resources
- Webinars
- Updates
- Round One Grant Information
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
UPDATE: On November 8, 2024, the list of eligible entities in Section III.A: Eligible Applicants was revised to list “Indian Tribes” rather than “Federally Recognized Tribes.”
The entities eligible to apply for this grant are:
- Indian Tribes, as defined in 33 U.S.C. 4201 and section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304), which includes Alaskan Native Villages and Alaska Native Corporations, and former Indian reservations in Oklahoma, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior, and
- Intertribal consortia, consistent with the requirements in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations Section 35.504(a).
Refer to the Eligible Applicants section of the SWIFR for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia Notice of Funding Opportunity (pdf) .
Eligible Activities
Materials and waste streams within scope of this funding opportunity include: municipal solid waste, including plastics, organics, paper, metal, glass, etc. and construction and demolition debris. In addition, materials and waste streams considered include the management pathways of source reduction, reuse, sending materials to material recovery facilities, composting, industrial uses (e.g., rendering, anaerobic digestion), and feeding animals.
All applications must address one or more of the following objectives:
- Develop or update plans focused on encouraging environmentally sound post-consumer materials management such as source reduction (e.g., repair clinics, reuse centers), collection, storage, transportation, composting, recycling, and/or markets for recyclables;
- Develop, strengthen, and/or implement comprehensive data collection efforts that demonstrate progress towards the National Recycling Goal and Food Loss and Waste Reduction Goal;
- Establish, increase, or expand materials management infrastructure, such as facilities for reuse, recycling, or composting; collection and storage bins for recyclable or organic material, purchasing and maintaining equipment or supplies such as scales, crushers, balers, and sorting equipment, trucks, forklifts, and safety equipment);
- Establish or identify end-markets for the use of recycled materials; or
- Demonstrate an increase in the diversion recycling rate, and/or quality of materials collected.
Applications may include (but are not limited to) projects that fund:
- Developing or updating plans focused on improving post-consumer materials management;
- Planning and construction of facilities for food and organics recovery, reuse, recycling, composting or anaerobic digestion (compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act will be required for construction projects);
- Programs that provide or increase access to prevention, reuse, and recycling in areas that currently do not have access; including construction of and/or upgrades to drop-off and transfer stations (including but not limited to a hub-and-spoke model in rural communities), etc.;
- Purchasing collection or storage bins for recyclables or organic material;
- Purchasing or leasing recycling equipment or supplies for post-consumer materials management recovery efforts (e.g., crushers, balers, and sorting equipment, trucks, forklifts, safety equipment);
- Activities focused on development of end-markets for materials (e.g., working with a recycler to accept collected materials for processing);
- Activities to support increasing and improving collection of recyclable materials and/or organics and food waste, and backhaul.
- Activities to reduce, reuse and recycle building materials including deconstruction (dismantling buildings for reuse and recycling) and construction and demolition debris recycling equipment and projects;
- Activities focused on reducing contamination in the recycling stream;
- Training, technical assistance, and/or tools required to plan, establish, or implement post-consumer materials recovery (e.g., applicants may apply for funding for training employees on use and safety of recycling equipment, raise awareness of infrastructure and processes);
- Education and outreach activities relating to post-consumer materials management; Land acquisition when necessary for construction or improvement for improvements to Tribal recycling facilities and waste management facilities subject to the requirements 2 CFR 200.311 and 2 CFR 200.316.; and/or
- Other activities that the applicant believes will further the objectives of the NOFO, provided those activities are eligible for funding under statute and the terms of this NOFO.
Available Funding
The total estimated funding for the competitive opportunity is approximately $20,000,000. EPA anticipates awarding approximately 20 assistance agreements under this funding opportunity, with at least one award per each EPA Region. The minimum individual award floor is $100,000, and the maximum individual award ceiling is $1,500,000 for the grant period. This funding opportunity is in alignment with the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative.
Anticipated Award Process and Timeline
How to Apply
Applicants must submit applications through grants.gov. Applications should read the SWIFR for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia Notice of Funding Opportunity (pdf) for the full solicitation. The NOFO includes a full description of the funding opportunity, award information, eligibility information, application and submission information, application review information, and award administration information.
Resources
- This Funding Opportunity in Grants.gov.
- SWIFR for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia Notice of Funding Opportunity (pdf) (Closes on March 14, 2024).
- Optional Resources (please note that use of these resources is optional and applicants who do not use them will not be penalized):
- SWIFR Project Narrative Attachment Form (docx) (includes the Summary Information Cover Letter and the Narrative Proposal).
- SWIFR Budget Table and Description Spreadsheet (xlsx) .
- SWIFR Milestones (docx) .
- SWIFR Application Checklist (pdf) .
- Questions and Answers: SWIFR Grants for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia.
- Prepare for a Grant.
- Model Recycling Program Toolkit.
- Frequently asked questions about Build America, Buy America for EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management programs (pdf)(763 KB).
Webinars
EPA hosted two webinars about this funding opportunity. The first webinar took place on October 16, 2024. In this webinar, EPA provided an overview of the NOFO, eligible entities, evaluation criteria, and the application process. The second webinar about this funding opportunity took place on October 29, 2024. In this webinar, EPA covered procurement, subawards, budget, attachments, and other requirements.
Access the slides used during these webinars below. EPA will post the webinar recordings on this webpage soon for use as a reference.
| Date | Time (Eastern) | Presentation Slides | Webinar Recordings |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 16, 2024 | 12:30 - 2:00 pm | EPA presentation slides in English (pdf). | Watch a recording of this webinar. |
| October 29, 2024 | 3:00 - 4:30 pm | Recording coming soon! |
Updates
Stay Connected
- Sign up for updates about our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law programs.
Need More Help?
- If you have questions about the grants, email SWIFRTribal@epa.gov.
Round One Grant Information
On November 15, 2023, EPA announced the selectees for the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia.