Solid Waste Management Grant Program
Grants support technical assistance and training on solid waste reduction, recycling, reuse, landfill operations and closure, and related landfill condition evaluations for eligible U.S.-based organizations.
RESTRICTED TO: NONPROFITS · STATE LOCAL GOV · TRIBAL ENTITIES
⚑ Funding may not be used for construction, facility operation/maintenance, real estate, vehicles, office space, or duplicate existing services. · Applicants must be legally established and located within a state; private businesses, federal agencies, and individuals are ineligible. · Applicant must have proven ability and regional technical assistance/training capacity; incorporation by Dec. 31 of the application year is required. · Grant funds cannot be used for lobbying, litigation, political activity, donations, or recruiting applications for other USDA loan/grant programs.
This is a rural solid-waste technical assistance/training program centered on landfill operations, closure planning, and water-resource threat evaluation. That is largely infrastructure/service delivery and environmental engineering, not the team’s core social-science lines in risk perception, public opinion, weather warning, energy acceptance, or education policy.
JUDGED AGAINST THE ROSTER'S PUBLICATION DOSSIER · GPT-5.4-MINI · 2026-10-02
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| IPPRA | 40 partial | portfolio topics: environment, water_resources, public_health (primary); signature methods: community engaged, policy analysis; social/behavioral work is minor; funds technical assistance, not research (capped); capped at 40 (non-research funding) |
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 40 partial | technical depth: substantial; funds technical assistance (capped) |
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 10 none | deep-tech content; no commercialization signal |
Description
Funds may be used to:
(a) Provide technical assistance and/or training to reduce the solid waste stream through reduction, recycling, and reuse.
(b) Provide training to enhance operator skills in maintaining and operating active landfills.
(c) Provide technical assistance and/or training for operators of landfills which are closed or will be closed in the near future with the development/implementation of closure plans, future land use plans, safety and maintenance planning, and closure scheduling within permit requirements.
(d) Evaluate current landfill conditions to determine the threats to water resources.
(e) Pay the expenses associated with providing the technical assistance and/or training authorized in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section.
Grant funds may not be used to:
(a) Duplicate current services or replace or substitute support normally provided by other means, such as those performed by an association's consultant in developing a project, including feasibility, design, and cost estimates.
(b) Fund political or lobbying activities.
(c) Purchase real estate or vehicles, improve or renovate office space, or repair and maintain privately owned property.
(d) Pay the costs for construction, improvement, rehabilitation, modification, or operation and maintenance of water, wastewater, and solid waste disposal facilities.
(e) Construct or furnish a building.
(f) Intervene in the Federal regulatory or adjudicatory proceedings.
(g) Sue the Federal Government or any other government entities.
(h) Pay for any other costs that are not allowable under 2 CFR part 200 , as adopted by USDA through 2 CFR part 400 .
(i) Make contributions or donations to others.
(j) Fund projects that duplicate technical assistance given to implement action plans under the National Forest-Dependent Rural Communities Economic Diversification Act of 1990 ( 7 U.S.C. 6613 ). Applicants cannot receive both grants made under this part and grants that the Forest Service makes to implement the action plans for five continuous years from the date of grant approval by the Forest Service.
(1) The Forest Service helps rural communities that are dependent upon national forest resources diversify existing industries and economies. It establishes rural forestry and economic diversification action teams that prepare technical assistance plans for these rural communities to expand their local economies and reduce their dependence on national forest resources. The Forest Service provides assistance to implement the action plans through grants, loans, cooperative agreements, or contracts.
(2) To avoid duplicate assistance, applicants must contact the Forest Service to find out if any geographical areas or local areas in a State have received grants for technical assistance to an economically disadvantaged community. These areas are defined as national forest-dependent communities under 7 U.S.C. 6612 . Applicants will provide documentation to the Forest Service and Rural Utilities Service that they have contacted each agency.
(k) To pay an outstanding judgment obtained by the United States in a Federal Court (other than in the United States Tax Court), which has been recorded. An applicant will be ineligible to receive a loan or grant until the judgment is paid in full or otherwise satisfied.
(l) Recruit applications for the RUS's water and waste loan or any other loan or grant program. Grant funds cannot be used to create new business; however, they can be used to assist with application preparation.
Eligibility
An organization is eligible to receive a SWM grant if it: a) is a private, non-profit organization that has tax-exempt status from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). A nonprofit organization is defined as any corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization that:(i) Is operated primarily for scientific, education, service, charitable, or similar purposes in the public interest.(ii) Is not organized primarily for profit.(iii) Uses its net proceeds to maintain, improve, and/or expand its operations.(2) Public bodies.(3) Federally acknowledged or State-recognized Native American tribe or group.(4) Academic institutions.(b) Entities must be legally established and located within a state as defined in § 1775.2.(c) Organizations must be incorporated by December 31 of the year the application period occurs to be eligible for funds.(d) Private businesses, Federal agencies, and individuals are ineligible for these grants.(e) Applicants must also have the proven ability; background; experience, as evidenced by the organization's satisfactory completion of project(s) similar to those proposed; legal authority; and actual capacity to provide technical assistance and/or training on a regional basis to associations as provided in § 1775.63. To meet the requirement of actual capacity, an applicant must either:(1) Have the necessary resources to provide technical assistance and/or training to associations in rural areas through its staff, or(2) Be assisted by an affiliate or member organization which has such background and experience and which agrees, in writing, that it will provide the assistance, or(3)Click to open paragraph tools Contract with a nonaffiliated organization for not more than 49 percent of the grant to provide the proposed assistance.
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: LAVONDA PERNELL Community Programs Specialist <water-rd@usda.gov>
Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.
Proposal shell · USDA NIFA conventions SEE A USDA EXAMPLE →
Funder-faithful document skeletons — USDA NIFA's document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.