EPA Awards Recycling Education and Outreach Grants to Maine and New Hampshire Organizations as Part of America Recycles Day

On America Recycles Day and Anniversary of President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA announces grants funded in part by the largest recycling investment in 30 years

November 15, 2023

BOSTON (Nov. 15, 2023) – Today, in conjunction with America Recycles Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that two New England organizations are among 25 selectees to receive a portion of $33+ million in Recycling Education and Outreach (REO) grants. These grants, which are part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda, a key pillar of Bidenomics, will expand recycling infrastructure and education for waste management systems across the region.

The local awardees are ecomaine, located in Portland, who were selected to receive $2 Million for a project called "An Effort to Increase Maine's Recycling Rate Through Outreach to Stakeholders of Multi-Family Dwelling Units;" and Northeast Resource Recovery Association, located in Epsom, N.H., to receive $440,000 for a project called "Recycle Right North Country."

"Today, on America Recycles Day, we are putting historic recycling investments into communities, made possible by President Biden's Investing in America agenda," said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. "Two years ago today, the President signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and with it, unleashed unprecedented funding to enable Tribes and communities to update recycling and composting infrastructure, while also advancing education programs to increase recycling rates and reduce waste."

"Addressing the climate crisis requires many thoughtful and creative solutions. These two projects designed to expand recycling efforts will make a big difference helping Maine and New Hampshire to increase recycling rates and improve sustainability for our communities," said EPA New England Regional Administrator David W. Cash. "The Recycling Education and Outreach grant projects will help inform the public about local recycling and composting programs and focus on increasing collection rates and decreasing contamination of recycling streams across the nation."

The group ecomaine proposes to increase the recycling rate in Maine via a targeted pilot with dedicated educational outreach programming and single-sort recycling strategies in multi-family dwelling units, where access to participation traditionally has been limited. Outreach to residents and property owners, informational materials, social media, and increased access to recycling solutions will help to divert more recyclable material from Maine's landfills.

Recycle Right North Country will increase residential recycling rates and decrease recycling contamination in thirty disadvantaged, rural, and low-income North Country, NH communities by providing education to both residents and solid waste facility operators. A nine-month campaign will consist of four objectives: Resident Outreach, In-Person Education, Train the Trainers programming, and a culminating Recycle Right North Country Summit.

Nationally and locally, these recycling grants will help tackle consumer confusion and outdated recycling infrastructure, the largest barriers to proper recycling. Thanks to President Biden's historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was signed two years ago today, EPA was provided the largest recycling investment in 30 years that is funding these two new programs.

These grants reflect the Biden-Harris Administration's commitment to tackling environmental justice and the climate crisis. Many communities with environmental justice concerns carry a disproportionate environmental and human health burden from waste disposal. As part of President Biden's Justice40 Initiative, 74% of the funding allocated in the REO grants will benefit underserved and overburdened communities. Increasing recycling is also an important way to reduce pollution because natural resource extraction and processing make up half of all global greenhouse gas emissions that drive the climate crisis. Recycling reduces the need to extract resources such as timber, water, and minerals for new products.

To learn more about the Recycling Education and Outreach funding, please visit: EPA's Recipients and Selectees webpage.

America Recycles Day

Today marks both the 39th America Recycles Day, the second anniversary of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the second anniversary of EPA's National Recycling Strategy. The National Recycling Strategy was the first in a series of EPA strategies devoted to building a circular economy – one that reduces material use, redesigns materials, products, and services to be less resource intensive, and recaptures "waste" as a resource to manufacture new materials and products.

To build upon the goals of the recycling strategy, EPA released the Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution for public comment in April. The Draft Strategy outlines steps to reduce pollution during production, improve management of plastic materials throughout product lifecycles, and encourage actions to keep plastics out of national waterways and the environment. Future strategies will address food waste and electronics.

EPA also recently announced over $105 million for the selectees of the historic SWIFR grants for states and communities. These improvements will support a circular economy, help lower greenhouse gas emissions, as more efficient waste management systems are key to reducing energy consumption and the need for raw materials, while rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, powered by well-paying jobs that don't require four-year degrees.

Visit EPA's website to learn more ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

EPA offers many free, online resources, including:

• Model Recycling Toolkit.
• Composting Food Scraps in Your Community: A Social Marketing Toolkit.
• Wasted Food Scale: Updated Recommendations.
• Standardized Terms for Materials Accepted by Municipal Recycling Programs.
• Creating Messages that Drive Behavior Change.
• Recycling Infrastructure and Market Opportunities Map.

Learn more about America Recycles Day.