Hot New Programs

Topic Area 1: Expanding Consumer Participation in Consumer Electronics Battery Recycling Programs

The objective of this topic area is to develop and implement an education and/or behavior change campaign to increase participation by consumers in existing battery recycling programs. This objective aims to support the Federal Consortium for  Advanced Batteries (FCAB) National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries goal of achieving 90% recycling of consumer electronics batteries by 2030.

Topic Area 2: Improving the Economics of Recycling Consumer Electronics Batteries

The objective of this topic area is to improve the economics of recycling consumer electronics batteries sufficiently to generate a greater market demand for recycling these batteries. There are multiple strategies that individually or in combination can help achieve this goal, such as improving the logistics and processes involved with collection, transportation, storage, and dismantling of EOL batteries (including designing for sustainability). In order to complement and support existing DOE programs that focus on the technical aspects of physically and chemically recycling batteries, this topic area is specifically aimed at reducing the costs associated with actions and steps taken before the chemical processes of reclaiming value from batteries at a recycling facility.

Topic Area 3: State and Local Programs for Consumer Electronics Battery Collection, Recycling and Reprocessing

The objective of this topic area is to establish programs that will assist States and units of local government in the establishment or enhancement of battery
collection, recycling, and reprocessing. Applications should strive to achieve sustainable investments in establishing state or local recycling processes and
infrastructure.

Topic Area 4: Retailer Programs for Consumer Electronics Battery Collection

The objective of this topic area is to establish and/or implement programs with retailers that will provide battery collection. Programs can focus on any or all of
these recycling steps such as collecting, handling, sorting, storing, and transporting spent and discarded batteries and electronics containing batteries. They do not need to address or propose industrial or chemical processes for recycling. Activities should address key challenges such as transportation; collection/storage; and overall communication, training, and public information. Each program must report on the number of battery collection points established or enhanced and the quantity of material collected.

This grant program is administered by The Recycling Partnership’s PET Recycling Coalition, which brings together a robust group of stakeholders to drive improvements that transform the PET recycling landscape.

The purpose of the PET Recycling Coalition’s Grant Program is to facilitate a number of distinct yet interrelated improvements related to the circularity of PET packaging in the United States:

• Increasing the capture of PET at MRFs, secondary sortation facilities, and/or PET reclaimers by improving process effectiveness and reducing yield loss;
• Increasing the number of local recycling programs accepting PET non-bottle rigids (e.g. thermoformed clamshells, cups, trays;
• Increasing the recycling viability of pigmented and/or opaque PET;
• Optimizing the supply of rPET by aligning rPET characteristics with end market needs.

The Community Infrastructure Fund will provide funding for community-based and regional projects in the Delta Regional Authority service area that address basic public infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, and flood control.

Program priorities

• Encourage stakeholders to make programmatic and policy-related changes to prioritize equity and cultural context
• Investments in economically distressed communities and in support of inclusive, sustainable rural communities with access to services; funding; and programs that enable career stability, such as healthcare, housing, education, and food security
• Collaboration among states, economic development districts, institutions of higher education, the private sector, philanthropic organizations, and region residents
• Collaborative, innovative, and evidence-based practices to rapidly reinvest taxpayer dollars in communities
• Use data to inform decisions regarding grants and investments and track outcomes from those initiatives; facilitate thought leadership and data-sharing in order to promote transparency while monitoring emerging challenges and ongoing progress
• Address the challenges and needs today and for the future
• The use of resilient construction methods and materials to protect against natural disasters
• Clean energy demonstration projects that support weatherization and other energy efficiency improvements to reduce energy costs, and which include clean energy manufacturing and workforce development
• Increasing historically underserved community access to affordable, healthy food

Impact

RCPP proposals must offer effective and compelling solutions that address one or more natural resource concerns to help solve natural resource challenges. Partners are responsible for evaluating a project’s outcomes.

Partner Contributions

By statute, partners are responsible for identifying any combination of cash and in-kind support that provides a significant portion of the overall costs of the project. Proposals will be evaluated, in part, on the contribution of non-Federal resources to the project. NRCS makes investments through the RCPP to leverage the partner’s investments in the project.

Partnerships and Management

NRCS seeks projects that integrate multiple conservation approaches, implement new technologies, build new partnerships, or effectively employ program flexibilities to deliver conservation solutions. Partners must have experience, expertise, and capacity for managing the partnership and project, providing outreach to producers, quantifying the environmental (and when possible, economic and social) outcomes of an RCPP project, and consistently providing technical assistance that follows NRCS or negotiated project-specific technical requirements. RCPP ranking criteria give priority consideration to applicants that meaningfully engage historically underserved farmers and ranchers as well as those that coordinate with other Federal, State, Tribal, or local efforts. 

Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) cooperative agreements assist local and municipal governments with projects that develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans. Implementation activities will increase access to compost for agricultural producers, improve soil quality and encourages innovative, scalable waste management plans that reduce and divert food waste from landfills.