Reduce, Reuse, Recycling Education and Outreach Grants: What Cities Can Apply For Now

What are recycling education and outreach grants?

They are grants that fund public education about recycling, composting and waste reduction, as opposed to trucks, carts or processing equipment. A city usually spends them on campaign design, printed and digital materials, translation, events and staff time for outreach.

Some programs fund only education. Others fund infrastructure first and allow education as one eligible cost inside a larger project. The difference matters when you read a funding notice, because an outreach-only proposal can be out of scope for an infrastructure grant even when the program mentions education.

Is the EPA Recycling Education and Outreach grant still open?

No round is open now. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides $75 million total for fiscal years 2022 through 2026 for EPA's Consumer Recycling Education and Outreach Grant Program, and EPA reports that it awarded the remaining grant funds on August 25, 2025.

The program ran in two rounds. In round one, EPA awarded 25 grants for approximately $33 million, and the recipients are developing new education and outreach campaigns across the country. In round two, EPA awarded one grant for approximately $39 million (EPA recycling grant selectees and recipients).

That round-two award went to a cooperative agreement with the Consumer Recycling Education and Outreach Coalition: the World Wildlife Fund, ReFED, the Waste and Resources Action Programme, The Ad Council, the US Composting Council and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. EPA's program page lists the coalition and gives an address for questions, RecyclingEd@epa.gov.

For a city, that means the federal education-only money under this law is committed. A new outreach budget will likely come from a state program, an infrastructure grant with an education component, or the city's own funds.

Which federal recycling grants can a city still use?

The larger federal program is the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant, known as SWIFR. The same law provides $275 million total from fiscal year 2022 to 2026 for it, and cities, counties, towns, parishes and similar units of government are eligible as political subdivisions (EPA SWIFR grants for political subdivisions).

SWIFR is an infrastructure grant. Every application must meet at least one of its objectives, such as expanding collection, adding processing capacity, building end markets, or funding "tangible infrastructure, technology, or other improvements to reduce contamination in the recycled materials stream." Education can sit inside a project like that, but an outreach campaign on its own does not match the objectives EPA lists.

It is also competitive. In round two, 307 local governments applied for approximately $1.072 billion, and EPA selected 16 applicants for approximately $62 million, about 6% of what was requested. In round one, 311 local governments applied, and EPA awarded 25 grants totaling approximately $72.9 million, about 9% of the request (EPA recycling grant selectees and recipients). EPA's page says it is not currently accepting SWIFR applications from political subdivisions.

What state grants fund recycling education?

Many of the recycling grants a city can apply for in a given year come from its state environmental or recycling agency. Programs, amounts and deadlines differ by state, so start with your state agency's funding page and its grant staff.

California shows what that looks like. CalRecycle's Beverage Container Recycling City/County Payment Program has $10,500,000 available for fiscal year 2026–27, is open to cities and counties in California, and takes funding requests through its CAPRS system until November 17, 2026. Its eligible activities include "Public education promoting beverage container recycling" and "Public education and outreach that include a beverage container recycling component."

CalRecycle's SB 1383 Local Assistance Grant Program helps jurisdictions carry out SB 1383 and lists "Education and outreach (includes organic waste & edible food recovery)" among its eligible costs. Cities, counties, regional or joint powers authorities and special districts have been eligible. As of this writing the page shows no open applications and no upcoming cycles, with total funding to be determined in the state budget.

What can a grant pay for in an outreach program?

Whatever the program's eligible-cost list says, and nothing else. Read that list before you design the campaign, because it decides which materials, channels and staff hours can be charged to the grant.

A few habits save trouble later:

• Match each line of the budget to an eligible activity. If the program funds "public education promoting beverage container recycling," the campaign's message has to promote that.
• Ask the grant manager about anything durable. Whether signs, displays and other hardware count as outreach materials is the program staff's call, so get the answer in writing before you budget for them.
• Plan how you will show results. A funder will want to know what changed. Route checks, cart tags and facility reports give you a before and an after; our guide to cutting recycling contamination covers how cities measure it.

How should a city prepare before the next grant round?

Register early and keep a campaign plan ready to adapt. Starting either one when the funding notice posts leaves little time for the application itself.

For federal grants, EPA advises applicants to register on SAM.gov and Grants.gov before a funding notice is posted, since the process "can take a month or more to finalize." SAM.gov registration is free and has to be renewed every 365 days to stay active (EPA: Prepare for a Grant Application).

Beyond registration, a ready application usually has:

• A defined problem. One item or one behavior, with the routes or neighborhoods where it shows up.
• A campaign plan. The message, the audience, the channels and the calendar. Our guide to planning a recycling education campaign walks through each.
• Budgetary figures from each vendor, itemized so reviewers can check each line.
• A measure. The same check before launch and after it.

Grant timelines also leave vendors little room, and Dennis knows the pattern well: "a few times a year I will get a phone call from one of my clients, when they have a deadline that is usually less than a week away."

Where does the collection fleet fit in a grant-funded campaign?

The collection truck is the one part of a recycling program every household sees on its own street, next to its own cart. A campaign message on the side of that truck reaches residents on collection day, where the rule applies.

Roadway's Quick-Change Frame System puts the fleet in that mix. An aluminum frame mounts on the truck once and holds a printed campaign panel by spring tension on all four sides, and your own crew changes the panel in under 30 seconds. That lets one grant-funded message run for its season and the next campaign follow on the same trucks.

For a coordinator building a grant budget around the fleet:

• No minimum order. Equip a few trucks for a pilot on the routes the grant targets.
• Free design with unlimited proof rounds, so the artwork matches the funded message.
• Frames and panels typically ship seven to ten business days after the purchase order, and a rush moves to the front of the line at no extra charge.
• The frame is warranted indefinitely against mechanical failure. Damage from trees, buildings and driving is excluded.

San Diego, Roadway's first customer, still runs the frames. See how cities plan a full calendar of community messaging on the same fleet.

Whether fleet signage is an eligible cost is your grant program's decision, so confirm it with the program staff first. If it is, Get Budgetary Pricing Tell us your truck count, body types and the first message, and we will send itemized figures your department can use in the application, with a no-charge mockup of your own trucks wearing the artwork.