Massachusetts DEP To Give Away $1 Million in Recycling Grants

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Massachusetts Department of Environmental protection (MassDEP) has announced award of grant of nearly $1 million under the Recycling Business Development Grant (RBDG) program.

A total of six companies will receive the recycling grant. The grant recipients are Ag-Grid Energy, LLC; Charles George Fitchburg; Martin’s Farm Compost; ReEnergy Roxbury, LLC;  United Material Management of Millbury, LLC; and Waste Management Boston CORe. The six selected recipient companies will utilize the grant money to expand their recycling operations and improve the quality and quantity of recycling taking place at their facilities.

Ag-Grid Energy, LLC will use the grant of up to $250K to purchase a de-packaging unit which will equip the facility to separate food contaminated with other materials to produce high-quality feedstock for its anaerobic digestion facility. The unit will have an initial capacity to process 20,000 tons of food material every year, which can later be increased up to 60,000 tons per year, depending on facility requirements.

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The grant of up to $200K will be used by Charles George Fitchburg to purchase a five-bin sorting line, which is expected to increase the facility’s ability to separate various construction and demolition wastes including wood, bulky rigid plastics and other recyclable materials. The family-owned Martin’s Farm Compost has been awarded a grant of up to $146K. This will be used to purchase a screener that will remove minute pieces of plastic, metal, glass and other inorganics, thereby leading to improved quality of compost products.

The grant of up to $50K will be used by ReEnergy Roxbury, LLC to purchase recycling storage bunkers and a vertical baler for bulky rigid plastics. United Material Management of Millbury, LLC has sought the funds towards construction of a new facility to accept and process mixed construction and demolition (C&D) debris and purchase of several new equipment. The grant allocated to the Millbury firm is up to $250K. The final recipient of grant up to 100K is Waste Management’s Centralized Organics Recycling (CORe) facility in Charlestown. The funds will be utilized towards infrastructure development projects aimed at improving its processing capability.

The RBDG funding program, administered by the MassDEP, offers grants between $50K and $400K annually to recycling processors and manufacturers in order to help them create sustainable markets for eligible materials. In turn, the grant recipients are required to make commitments to meet specific tonnage goals by reducing trash.