Hot New Programs

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) – Sustainable Agricultural Systems program aims to catalyze transformative change in the US food and agricultural system by funding innovative projects aligned with USDA priority outcomes. With $80 million available in funding, this program presents a valuable opportunity for researchers, institutions, and organizations to address pressing challenges in agriculture, food security, and sustainability while contributing to economic development and rural prosperity in the United States.

This program will provide funding to support the recycling of consumer electronics batteries and battery-containing devices to help build a robust domestic critical material supply chain for EV batteries in the United States.

 

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.

Through RCPP, NRCS employs a co-investment approach through which the agency and partners collaborate to implement natural resource conservation activities. The following are three key principles of RCPP.

 

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.

 

The Innovative Clean Energy Loan Guarantee Program (ICELGP) aims to support energy projects that have the goal of using innovation and technology to reduce or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The ICELGP encourages catalytic, replicable, or market-ready renewable energy and associated technologies.

 

The Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (“GRRP”) provides loan or grant funding to support projects that reduce carbon emissions; improve utility efficiency; implement the use of renewable energy generation; enhance indoor air quality; or improve the climate resilience of eligible United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-assisted multifamily properties.

 

GRRP was created and designed to improve the quality, health, safety, and comfort of HUD-assisted multifamily housing for its residents, while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions produced by HUD’s assisted portfolio. GRRP provides funds to invest in utility efficiency, renewable energy generation, green and healthy housing, and efforts to make homes that serve the lowest-income Americans and a disproportionate number of older adults and persons with disabilities – who often live in communities particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change – more resilient against extreme weather events.

 

The Clean School Bus Grant Program (CSBGP) aims to improve air quality by replacing highly polluting buses while accelerating the transformation to low and zero-emission alternatives.  The program has multiple funding opportunities to maximize the number of zero-emission clean buses available to school districts across the country.