EPA awards $4M to Utah green waste facility

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, has awarded $4 million to the Logan City, Utah, Landfill’s Green Waste Facility, which will provide composting services for biosolids and yard waste for communities across Cache County. Funding comes from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.  

EPA also announced that it is making $652,000 available to the state of Utah to improve solid waste management planning and data collection in communities across the state. This funding to expand and create new waste management facilities in Utah is due to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is part of EPA’s largest recycling investment in 30 years, the agency says.  

“EPA’s Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling funds are helping communities across the nation reuse waste and reduce local and global environmental impacts,” says EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker. “These new facilities will serve Logan city and Cache County residents for many years to come.” 

The grant to the city of Logan will help construct a new regional green waste facility which will compost biosolids, yard waste and other organic waste through new and expanded operations adjacent to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, EPA says. This will include new utilities, stormwater pumps, piping and air plenums for aerated static composting; several acres of community gardens and landscaping; a new yard waste facility; and a new access road. The Logan Regional Green Waste Facility project will expand Logan and Cache County’s composting infrastructure, reduce landfill waste and manage biosolids, organics and food waste to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the agency says. 

“We are grateful for the EPA funding to complete our biosolids composting facility,” says Issa Hamud, Logan’s environmental department director. “The EPA funding pushes this timeline up so that within 18 months we will no longer be landfilling biosolids from the regional wastewater treatment facility. This will help consolidate our green waste facility, save landfill space and avoid carbon emissions from landfilled biosolids for the next 50 years.” 

The grant to Logan is part of the agency’s newly created Solid Waste for Recycling funding opportunity. As part of today’s announcement, EPA selected 25 communities across the nation to receive grants totaling more than $73 million. The agency says it is making available approximately $32 million for states and territories to improve solid waste management planning, data collection and plan implementation. 

EPA’s Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grant Program is advancing the Justice40 Initiative, the agency says, which aims to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution.