Washington's King County to offer recycling, waste diversion grants

The King County Solid Waste Division in Washington is offering grants to local companies or organizations for recycling, reuse and waste reduction projects in the Puget Sound region. The county says it will offer between $20,000 and $300,000 per project through the pilot program.  

“In local government, we have these big goals, but we don't have all [the] resources to ensure that we reach those goals,” says Emily Coleman, the circular organics program manager of the King County Solid Waste Division. “We feel that it's important to support organizations that are looking to support us and our goals in this space and really push it forward.”  

The application process launched a few weeks ago, and those interested have until May 6 to apply. Coleman says businesses, nonprofits and local organizations are eligible for the grants.   

The county is interested in projects that increase diversion and prevent materials from ending up in the landfill. Projects could range from improving education, collection processes or supporting end markets for recycled material. The projects also should have benefits that outweigh costs and that help mitigate the impacts of climate change while benefiting the economy.  

“We're hoping that the businesses and organizations that apply are thinking about things in a holistic view,” Coleman says. “We want businesses and organizations thinking through things like environmental impacts like greenhouse gas emissions, thinking through equity considerations, thinking about scalability and the growth opportunities within these projects.”  

According to information provided by the county, more than 70 percent of the items sent to the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill could have been repurposed. Coleman says the three sources of material the county hopes to increase diversion of are plastic film, paper and organics.   

The program is part of the county’s Re+ program. The program is King County's road map for a healthy environment and economy by reinventing its system of waste management. The county says its goal is to minimize waste by keeping valuable materials in use and out of the landfill. Coleman says the county has a zero-waste of materials goal by 2030.  

“We generate about,1.8 million tons and about a million of that is recycled and composted,” Coleman says. “However, about seven to 800,000 is going to our landfill. We have a strong recycling rate, we have a strong composting system here in the region, and we're very fortunate to have that. But we think we can do better. We want to make sure that we're not just satisfied with what we've done, that we can strive toward that zero waste of materials goal.”