Governor Ned Lamont announced that $7.5 million in state funding is now available to support Connecticut鈥檚 municipalities in their efforts to increase recycling and diversion and augment their self-sufficiency in managing municipal solid waste disposal. 鈥淭he state is continuing to help our towns and cities identify sustainable ways to dispose of waste and realize savings,鈥� Governor Lamont said. 鈥淲ith local options for solid waste disposal shrinking and the cost to dispose of waste out of state rising, this grant opportunity gives municipalities more control of their disposal costs and more creative options that are also good for the environment.鈥�
The Sustainable Materials Management Grant Program, administered by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), has opened a request for applications (RFA) for a second round of grants, which are aimed at supporting the development of food scrap collection and unit-based pricing programs, as well as other reduction, recycling, and diversion programs. Many of the strategies that will be funded by these grants were recommended by the Connecticut Coalition for Sustainable Materials Management, a coalition of more than a hundred municipalities across Connecticut that are working to develop strategies to reduce waste and increase reuse and recycling.
鈥淢unicipal leaders throughout the state know first-hand that the easiest way to reduce the cost of managing municipal solid waste is to reduce the amount of waste being created in the first place,鈥� DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said. 鈥淭he funding we鈥檙e announcing today will do just that 鈥� reduce the amount of organic waste simply being thrown in the trash and instead redirect it to more beneficial uses like composting. We know from the first round of this grant program that these strategies really work, bringing down costs for towns while at the same time contributing to Connecticut鈥檚 self-sufficiency. We are grateful for the leadership of Governor Lamont and the General Assembly for authorizing these dollars to combat the waste crisis and look forward to continuing our work with municipalities in bringing down their waste disposal costs.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 great to see the Sustainable Materials Management program be granted $7.5 million more to help our state鈥檚 environment,鈥� State Representative John-Michael Parker (D-Madison), co-chair of the legislature鈥檚 Environment Committee, said. 鈥淧rograms funded through this grant will help develop innovative new ways of using our resources, especially food scraps, and I can鈥檛 wait to see how our state uses this grant money. Thank you to all my colleagues for their work securing these funds.鈥�
The $7.5 million announced under this second round builds on the program鈥檚 first round, which funded pilot programs in fifteen municipalities and three regional entities, supporting a variety of piloted food scraps diversion programs that included unit-based pricing elements. These pilot programs provided a wealth of data across a diverse subset of Connecticut鈥檚 municipalities and demonstrated that a variety of approaches can be effective in reducing costs and environmental impacts associated with municipal solid waste disposal.
Grants are available for individual and groups of municipalities, as well as regional entities (councils of governments, regional planning agencies, resource recovery authorities, recycling operating committees, and regional waste authorities). Eligible applicants must submit a completed application in conformance with the RFA, which can be found on DEEP鈥檚 Municipal and Regional Grants and Technical Assistance webpage. Grant applications must be submitted to DEEP by Friday, June 27, 2025.