Title
Apply for Environmental Protection Agency Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling: Track I Grant Opportunity for Federal Fiscal Year 2024-25 - Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding (Ordinance S-51552) - Citywide
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to apply for, accept and, if awarded, enter into an agreement for disbursement of federal funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2024-25 Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) grant opportunity, and to enter into sub-award agreement(s) and any memorandums of agreement(s) necessary for disbursement of federal funding to subrecipient(s). If awarded, the funding will be used to establish a circular food economy project that will comprehensively link residents in food deserts and disadvantaged communities with urban farmers, food aggregators/distributors, and food recyclers. Further request to authorize the City Treasurer to accept, and the City Controller to disburse, all funds related to this item. Funding for this grant opportunity is available through the Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The total grant funds applied for will not exceed $5 million, and the City would have no local match.
Report
Summary
Background
The EPA allocated $275 million in funding from the BIL to implement building a circular economy, improve local post-consumer materials management, and make improvements to local waste management systems and align with the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative. The EPA SWIFR Track I is focused on projects that benefit disadvantaged communities and is open to local governments to focus on strategies to establish, increase, expand or optimize improvements to increase diversion of waste materials from municipal landfills.
In the City of Phoenix, it is estimated that 270,000 tons of food waste enter the landfill each year (Natural Resources Defense Council [NRDC], 2023). Among the numerous sources of food waste generation in Phoenix, residential household food waste represents approximately 55 percent of the above amount (NRDC, 2023). According to the latest estimates from the EPA, the average American wastes roughly 349 pounds of food annually (EPA, 2019).
Project Scope
The “Circular Food Economy Project” will advance progress on reducing residential household food waste in disadvantaged communities and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Office of Environmental Programs (OEP) will partner directly with the private sector to pilot a circular economy of food model that can be scaled to benefit greater Phoenix. Residents will receive free monthly deliveries of fresh, healthy, and culturally relevant produce grown at traditional and vertical farms in the greater Phoenix area and will participate in a free monthly composting service. Participating residents will collect their household food scraps, which will be picked up and composted at a modular and solar-powered anaerobic digestion facility. The compost will be used to produce a liquid fertilizer, which will be used by local farms providing the produce, creating a closed-loop system.
Grant applications are due December 20, 2024, with funding available in late 2025 for a grant period of three years.
Financial Impact
The estimated total cost for the project is $5 million. The maximum federal participation rate is 100 percent, with no local match requirement. If awarded, the federal match would not exceed $5 million.
Potential grant funding received is available through the BIL, from the EPA through the FFY 2024-25 SWIFR grant opportunity.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Managers Alan Stephenson and Mario Paniagua, and the Office of Environmental Programs.