Applicants sought for recycling grant funds
Linda Laderoute
The Northwest Missouri Regional Solid Waste Management District is looking for businesses, schools, local governments, non-profit organizations — just about anybody really — who has a plan for recycling, and who just needs a little seed money to turn that plan into reality.
Environmental Planner Linda Laderoute said Monday that recycling grant funds are currently available through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and that public and private entities throughout the five counties served by the Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments are welcome to apply.
Those counties include Atchison, Gentry, Holt, Nodaway, and Worth.
The funds are earmarked for initiatives designed to encourage recycling and reduce the amount of waste entering landfills.
According to a district release, eligible projects could include, but are not limited to, the proposed purchase of waste volume-reduction infrastructure and equipment, such as wood chippers, aluminum and cardboard balers, forklifts, and recycling bins.
In the past, grant funds have also been used to help pay for electronic and household waste collections, outdoor classrooms, recycling education and outreach, and business expansions for waste handling and recycling firms.
Laderoute said the application period for the current grant cycle ends Oct. 3, and that a total of $54,000 is available for waste reduction and recycling projects across the five-county region. In the past, she said, individual grants have generally been capped at $19,500, but that larger allocations might be available if the right project comes along.
Smaller grants have been awarded for as little as a few hundred dollars, Laderoute said.
Money for the grant program comes from a statewide solid waste management fund established by the Missouri Legislature and supported by revenue derived from a small portion of the “tipping fees” paid by haulers who dump waste at landfills.
A total of 20 solid waste management districts exist in Missouri, each of which is working toward a statewide goal of cutting the stream of waste deposited in landfills each year by 75 percent.
That’s a lofty standard, and one that Laderoute said is especially challenging for rural communities.
Laderoute said the new recycling mark was established a few years ago and replaced an earlier 40 percent goal set by the Missouri Recycling Association. However, a number of Missouri’s solid waste districts, including the northwest Missouri zone, are still struggling to reach the lower threshold.
Outstate areas face challenges in boosting their recycling volumes, she said, due to a lack of infrastructure and resources.
However, Laderoute and other recycling proponents see potential in rural Missouri, and claim that channeling resources, such as state grant funding, into sparsely populated areas holds out promise for both improving the environment and sparking significant economic growth.
According to statistics released by the recycling association, every 10,000 tons of solid waste deposited in landfills creates one job. However, the same amount of repurposed waste can create as many as 10 recycling jobs and up to 75 “materials reuse” jobs.
Missouri currently boasts about 25,000 jobs related to the recycling industry, according to the association, which also claims that boosting the landfill diversion rate to 75 percent nationwide could add an additional 1.5 million American jobs by the year 2030.
In an attempt to raise awareness about the need for more and larger recycling efforts in northwest Missouri, Laderoute’s office is hosting the RecycleART Challenge later this fall.
The program is to include an exhibition featuring artworks created from recyclable materials that will take place at the NoCoMo Industries sheltered workshop, 319 S. Newton St. in Maryville, from 4-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
Submission deadline is 2 p.m. that same day, and each entry must include an essay of between 250 and 500 words describing the theme of the artwork and telling how the piece relates to the values of recycling and sustainability.
Media can include recycled paper, cardboard, aluminum, plastics, food cans, textiles, or metals, and entries must be no larger than 3 cubic feet.
The juried show is open to all art students in grades 9-12 in Atchison, Gentry, Holt, Nodaway, and Worth counties and will include door prizes along with cash awards for winning entries. There is a limit of two entries per school.
For more information about the contest, which is being held in conjunction with America Recycles Day, call Laderoute at 660-582-5121.
