Thousands of dollars in grant money was recently awarded to area municipalities for use in developing and implementing recycling programs in their communities. The Recycling Performance Grants are given out yearly by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and are based on the total tons of materials recycled by each community that applies. Materials collected by schools, universities, businesses and community events can be included in the yearly total.
Under Pennsylvania Act 101, passed into law in 1988, municipalities with more than 10,000 residents or communities with between 5,000 and 10,000 residents with a population density greater than 300 people per square mile must establish recycling programs. That means 440 of the state’s 2,700 municipalities must have recycling programs in place and provide curbside collection to residents. However, the recycling grants are available to any municipality with an established recycling program in place.
Pennsylvania recently awarded $17.8 million in grant money to 131 municipalities and counties. The grant money comes from the $2 tipping fee per ton paid by waste haulers at municipal landfills and resource recovery facilities in the state.
Among the communities receiving grant money is Douglass (Mont.), which received the most money of all the local communities with $25,017 for recycling 1,740 tons in 2010, the year the tonnage was calculated for the most recent set of grants. The following communities in Montgomery County also received grants: Perkiomen Township, $9,596 for recycling 914 tons of material; Upper Frederick, $3,163 for recycling 321 tons; Red Hill, 42,072 for recycling 213 tons, Lower Frederick, $1,428 for recycling 222 tons; Marlborough, $789 for recycling 130 tons; and East Greenville/Pennsburg, $606 for recycling 135 tons.
