EPA awards over $469,000 in funding for Kansas SMM projects

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced $469,924 in funding for three Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) projects in the Kansas City area. These projects include:

• Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas has been selected for $95,000 in funding to conduct a feasibility study for an organic material composting facility, including a site evaluation, feedstock and processing technologies evaluation, concept design, and financial evaluation.
• Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) has been selected for $174,924 in funding for a project to address food waste reduction in the nine‐county Kansas City region through a Regional Food Waste Reduction Action Plan, food system mapping, and an educational campaign.
• Kansas State University Pollution Prevention Institute (PPI) has been selected for $200,000 in funding for a project in Johnson County, Kansas, that will work with industry and community partners to provide on-site technical assistance, identifying and documenting opportunities for food and solid-waste (packaging) source reduction, diversion and recycling.

“The UG remains committed to improving air quality and ensuring clean, safe water for Wyandotte County and the surrounding region,” said Mayor/CEO David Alvey for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. “An organic composting facility could help reduce unnecessary waste going into area landfills, decreasing emissions harmful to the environment, and turning waste into composted materials that can be used for land applications such as an alternative to chemical fertilizers. We appreciate the EPA’s grant assistance to study the feasibility of this project, and value this partnership to improve the quality of life for our community and the region through sustainable materials management.”

“This grant allows MARC to convene regional partners and stakeholders to address food waste in a holistic way through prevention, rescue and composting,” said MARC Executive Director David Warm. “These strategies will get more fresh food to those in need, reduce the financial burden to individual households, limit greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the region’s disposal needs.”

“This new funding will accelerate our solid waste reduction work with Kansas schools, industries and communities,” said Paul Lowe, associate vice president for research and director for PreAward Services at Kansas State University. "It will divert millions of tons of waste from the landfills in Kansas, helping the state and Johnson County meet their solid waste reduction goals while acting as a model for future industrial and community partners."

According to the EPA, SMM is a systemic approach to using materials more productively and finding new opportunities to reduce environmental impacts, conserve resources, and reduce costs over a product's life cycle. EPA says its SMM program supports efforts to help build community health by reducing the use, release and exposure to toxic chemicals; using life-cycle approaches to reduce the health and environmental impacts of materials use; and employing upstream solutions that reduce the need for and cost of environmental cleanup and pollution management.