42 U.S.C. § 6966d — Consumer recycling education and outreach grant program; Federal procurement

(a) Definition of Administrator In this section, “Administrator” means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. This section does not define the term “eligible entity” or other terms it uses unless it does so below.

(b) Consumer recycling education and outreach grant program

(1) In general The Administrator must establish a program, called the “grant program” in this subsection, to award competitive grants to eligible entities. The grants must improve residential and community recycling programs through public education and outreach.

(2) Criteria The Administrator must award grants for projects that use one or more eligible activities described in paragraph (5) to—

(A) inform the public about residential or community recycling programs;

(B) provide information about recycled materials accepted by a residential or community recycling program that separately collects residential solid waste^* from recycled material; and

(C) increase collection rates and decrease contamination in residential and community recycling programs.

(3) Eligible entities

(A) In general An entity eligible to receive a grant under the grant program is—

(i) a State^*;

(ii) a unit of local government;

(iii) an Indian Tribe, as defined in section 5304 of title 25;

(iv) a Native Hawaiian organization, as defined in section 7517 of title 20;

(v) the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands;

(vi) the Office of Hawaiian Affairs;

(vii) a nonprofit organization; or

(viii) a public-private partnership.

(B) Coordination of activities Two or more entities described in subparagraph (A) may receive a grant to coordinate providing information to residents who may use two or more residential recycling programs, including programs that accept different recycled materials. The information must tell those residents about differences among the programs.

(4) Requirement

(A) In general To receive a grant, an eligible entity must show the Administrator that the grant money will be used to encourage collecting recycled materials that are sold to an existing or developing market.

(B) Business plans and financial data

(i) In general An eligible entity may make this showing by submitting appropriate business plans and financial data to the Administrator.

(ii) Confidentiality The Administrator must treat business plans and financial data received under clause (i) as confidential information.

(5) Eligible activities An eligible entity that receives a grant may use the grant money for activities including—

(A) public service announcements;

(B) a door-to-door education and outreach campaign;

(C) social-media and digital outreach;

(D) an advertising campaign about recycling awareness;

(E) developing and distributing—

(i) a toolkit for a municipal and commercial recycling program;

(ii) information about the importance of quality in the recycling stream;

(iii) information about the economic and environmental benefits of recycling; and

(iv) information about what happens to materials after they are placed into a residential or community recycling program;

(F) outreach to businesses about recycling;

(G) labels and signs for bins, carts, and other receptacles; and

(H) other activities that the Administrator determines are appropriate to carry out this subsection's purposes.

(6) Prohibition on use of funds No grant money may be awarded for a residential recycling program that—

(A) does not separately collect residential solid waste, as defined in section 246.101 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, as that section was in effect on November 15, 2021, from recycled material, as defined in that section, unless the money will be used to promote a transition to a system that separately collects recycled materials; or

(B) promotes establishing or converting to a residential collection system that does not separately collect residential solid waste from recycled material, as those terms are defined under subparagraph (A).

(7) Model recycling program toolkit

(A) In general In carrying out the grant program, the Administrator, after consulting other relevant Federal agencies, States, Indian Tribes, units of local government, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector, must develop a model recycling program toolkit for States, Indian Tribes, and units of local government. At a minimum, the toolkit must include—

(i) a standardized set of terms and examples that may be used to describe materials accepted by a residential recycling program;

(ii) information that the Administrator determines can be widely applied across residential recycling programs, taking into account differences in the recycled materials those programs accept;

(iii) educational principles about best practices^* for collecting and processing recycled materials;

(iv) a community self-assessment guide for identifying gaps in existing recycling programs;

(v) training modules that allow States and nonprofit organizations to provide technical assistance to units of local government;

(vi) access to consumer-education materials that States, Indian Tribes, and units of local government can adapt and use in recycling programs; and

(vii) a guide for measuring the effectiveness of a grant, including standardized measurements for recycling rates and reductions in contamination.

(B) Requirement When developing the standardized terms and examples under subparagraph (A)(i), the Administrator may not establish requirements for—

(i) what materials a residential recycling program must accept; or

(ii) product labeling.

(8) School curriculum The Administrator must assist the educational community, including nonprofit organizations such as an organization whose science, technology, engineering, and mathematics program incorporates recycling, to promote adding recycling principles and best practices to public-school curricula.

(9) Reports

(A) To the Administrator Not earlier than 180 days and not later than 2 years after a grant is awarded to an eligible entity, the entity must submit a report to the Administrator. Using the guide developed under paragraph (7)(A)(vii), the report must describe—

(i) the change in the volume of recycled material collected through grant-funded activities;

(ii) the change in the participation rate of the recycling program funded by the grant;

(iii) the reduction in contamination in the recycling stream resulting from the grant-funded activities; and

(iv) other information the Administrator determines appropriate.

(B) To Congress The Administrator must submit an annual report to Congress describing—

(i) how effective the residential recycling programs receiving grant money are, including statistics comparing the quantity and quality of recycled materials collected by those programs, as described in the reports submitted under subparagraph (A); and

(ii) recommendations for additional actions to improve residential recycling.

(c) Omitted This subsection is omitted from the supplied statute text.

(d) Authorization of appropriations

(1) In general Congress authorizes appropriating $15,000,000 to the Administrator for carrying out this section and the amendments made by this section for each fiscal year from 2022 through 2026.

(2) Requirement Of the money made available under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year, at least 20 percent must be allocated to—

(A) low-income communities;

(B) rural communities; and

(C) communities identified as Native American under section 3001(9) of title 25.