Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) Grants for Political Subdivisions of States and Territories - FY 2024
| Agency: | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
|---|---|
| CFDA: | 66.920 |
| Federal FON: | EPA-I-OLEM-ORCR-24-05 |
| Office: | Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) |
| Multipart Grant: | No |
| Next Due: | 12/20/2024 (Application) |
|---|---|
| Solicitation Date: | 09/16/2024 |
| Match Required: | No |
| Actual Funds: | $58,000,000 (Estimated) |
| Award Range: | $500,000 (Min) / $5,000,000 (Max) |
Summary:
The purpose of this program is to help local governments and communities improve and transform their post-consumer materials management infrastructure. Funding will support projects that result in a significant decrease in the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) and/or an increase in the diversion of MSW from landfills and incineration. Funding will also support innovative solutions and programs and provide or increase access to prevention, reuse, mechanical recycling, anaerobic digestion, and composting.
Applicants must clearly indicate and provide adequate proof that their proposed project falls under one of the following two tracks:
- Track 1: projects that benefit disadvantaged communities, as defined on page 8 of the NOFA file, and/or are located in a U.S. territory
- Track 2: projects that benefit all other communities that do not meet the definition of disadvantaged communities and/or are not located in a U.S. territory
All applications must address one or more of the following objectives, as they relate to the track under either Track 2 or Track 2:
- Establish, increase, expand, or optimize collection and improve materials management infrastructure
- Fund the creation and construction of tangible infrastructure, technology, or other improvements to reduce contamination in the recycled materials stream
- Establish, increase, expand, or optimize capacity for materials management
- Establish, improve, expand, or optimize end-markets for the use of recycled commodities
- Demonstrate a significant and measurable increase in the diversion, recycling rate, and quality of materials collected for municipal solid waste
Applications may also include projects that fund:
- Programs that provide or increase access to prevention, reuse, and recycling in areas that currently do not have access, including development of and/or upgrades to drop-off and transfer stations
- The purchase of recycling equipment, including sorting equipment, waste metering, trucks, and processing facilities
- Upgrades to material recovery facilities (MRFs) such as optical sorters and artificial intelligence
- Education and outreach activities as a minor element of larger eligible projects
- Construction of and/or upgrades to composting facilities or anaerobic digesters to increase capacity for food and organics recycling
- Development of and/or upgrades to curbside collection programs or drop-off stations for organics
- Development of and/or upgrades to reuse infrastructure
- Other activities that the applicant believes will further the objectives of this program, provided those activities are eligible for funding
Last Updated: October 08, 2024
Eligibility Notes:
Eligible applicants are political subdivisions of states and territories.
The funding agency considers counties, cities, towns, parishes, and similar units of governments that have executive and legislative functions to be political subdivisions of states. Other entities, such as state or territorial institutions of higher education, special districts, and housing authorities, must provide a documented legal opinion from the applicant's legal counsel or equivalent. The documentation must include a statement that the state or territory in which they are located considers these entities to be a political subdivision of the state. Documentation must also cite applicable state or territorial law.
Groups of two or more eligible applicants may choose to form a coalition and submit a single application; however, one entity must be named as the applicant and will be the recipient responsible for the award.
Applicants may submit separate applications for one or more projects.
Applicants must clearly indicate and provide adequate proof that their proposed project falls under Track 1 or Track 2, as described on pages 9-10 of the NOFA file. To qualify for Track 1, applicants must demonstrate that their proposed project will benefit a disadvantaged community, as defined on page 8 of the NOFA file, and/or be located in a U.S. territory. If a project is intended to serve multiple communities, only one community needs to meet the definition of a disadvantaged community or be located in a U.S. territory in order to be considered for Track 1.
For-profit and nonprofit organizations are ineligible applicants; however, they may participate in projects as contractors, program beneficiaries, or subrecipients. Additional ineligible applicants include:
- Award recipients from previous rounds of this program
- Tribes and intertribal consortia
- States and territories
Previous award recipients include:
- Chemung County (NY)
- City of Seattle (WA)
- Los Angeles County Public Works (CA)
- Municipality of Trujillo Alto (PR)
- Nassau County (FL)
Refer to the Award file for additional information regarding previous award recipients.
Eligible Applicants:
Local GovernmentAcademic Institutions
Application Notes:
Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET on December 20, 2024.
Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.
Applications must include:
- SF 424
- SF 424A
- EPA key contacts form 5700-54
- EPA form 4700-4 pre-award compliance review report
- Project narrative:
- Summary information cover letter (1 page max)
- Narrative proposal (10 pages max)
- Budget table and description (4 pages max) or budget spreadsheet (as applicable)
- Documentation demonstrating that competitive procurement was followed if specific names of contractors or equipment is mentioned in the application (if applicable)
- Documentation demonstrating that the applicant is considered a political subdivision of a state (if applicable)
The project narrative should combine the summary information cover letter, narrative proposal, and budget table and description into a single document of 15 pages, or 11 pages if using a budget spreadsheet. The budget spreadsheet may be a separate document that does not have a page limit.
The following are required in order to submit an application:
- Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
- SAM (System for Award Management) registration
- SPOC (state Single Point of Contact) notification
Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam. Applicants in states participating in the SPOC program must contact the relevant SPOC listed in the SPOC file before applying.
To allow the funding agency to better anticipate the total staff time required for efficient review, evaluation, and selection of submitted applications, applicants are encouraged to email an optional notice of intent to apply to the address provided in the Contact section by November 15, 2024.
A recording of a webinar held for this program is available online at epa.gov.
Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Project summary and approach (30 points)
- Impactful approaches and solutions (25 points)
- Environmental justice (15 points)
- Measuring and reporting environmental results: outputs and outcomes (10 points)
- Programmatic capability and past performance (10 points)
- Budget and expenditure of awarded funds (10 points)
Refer to the NOFA file for additional application information.
| Match Required: | No |
|---|---|
| Actual Funds: | $58,000,000 (Estimated) |
| Award Range: | $500,000 (Min) / $5,000,000 (Max) |
|---|
Match Notes:
Matching funds are not required for this program. Voluntary committed cost share will not be accepted or evaluated.
Funding Notes:
Approximately $58 million is expected to be available through this program to support approximately 20 to 30 cooperative agreements, with at least one award per Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) region, ranging from $500,000 to $5 million. Of the total funding available, at least $23.2 million is expected to be set aside specifically for awards to projects benefiting disadvantaged communities, as defined on page 8 of the NOFA file, and U.S. territories.
Funds will be provided on an advance basis.
Award notifications are expected to be made in July 2025, and awards are expected to be issued in December 2025.
The project period may last up to three years, and is expected to start in December 2025.
Funds may not be used for:
- Costs incurred prior to award notification
- Designing or administering the collection of identical information from ten or more parties, such as through surveys or focus groups
- Constructing, improving, or operating landfills
- Incineration
- Burn units
- Waste-to-energy, except for anaerobic digestion
- Chemical and thermal recycling
- Biofuels
- Environmental cleanup
- Food preprocessing, unless paired with recycling activities
- A source of payment of, or security for, an obligation the interest on which is excluded from gross income under Section 103 of Title 26 of the United States Code
For FY 2023, 25 awards were distributed through this program. Refer to the Award file for details.
Contacts:
Dan Halpert
SWIFR@epa.gov
Agency Address
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20460
Contact Notes:
Questions should be directed to Dan Halpert. Questions and answers will be posted online at www.epa.gov/infrastructure/solid-waste-infrastructure-recycling-grants-communities.
Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.
Optional notices of intent to apply must be emailed to the address provided.
The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.
Files:
NOFA File: US17824_NOFA_FY2024.pdf (577.9 Kb)Other Pre-Award File: US17824_SampleApp_FY2024.zip (410.8 Kb)
Award File: US17824_Award_FY2024.pdf (145.9 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US17824_WebinarPresentation_FY2024.pdf (1.9 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US17824_Q&A_FY2024.pdf (339.9 Kb)
Federal Forms:
SPOC (67.7 Kb)File Notes:
The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this program. The SampleApp folder contains optional resources applicants may use to help prepare their application. The WebinarPresentation file contains slides from a webinar held for this program. The Q&A file contains a list of questions and answers regarding this program. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients. The SPOC file contains information on the state Single Point of Contact program.
October 8, 2024
Slides from a webinar held for this program, as well as a list of questions and answers regarding this program, have been released and attached as the WebinarPresentation and Q&A files, respectively. The Financial section has been updated accordingly. A recording of a webinar for this program has also been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section.
| Project: | Convenience for All Project (1.6 Mb) |
|---|---|
| Applicant: | Durham County Solid Waste |
| Summary: |
The purpose of this program is to assist local waste management authorities by supporting improvements to local post-consumer materials management, including municipal recycling programs, and assisting local waste management authorities in making improvements to local waste management systems. Durham County Solid Waste requested and received $3,313,200 to establish, increase, expand, or optimize collection and improve materials management infrastructure. Project activities include expanding the site footprint, paving access roads to reduce maintenance, installing concrete pads in container storage areas, constructing a new attendant hut, establishing a new household hazardous waste and e-waste space to host collection events, reconstructing the swap shop, installing cameras facing the recycling bins, purchasing pre-crushers for trash, installing new multilingual signage, reconstructing the site layout to improve safety, and addressing environmental concerns through stormwater control measures and resilient vegetation. The county will provide $450,455 to match the remainder of the project costs. |
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Environment/Natural ResourcesRecycling & Reuse
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