The Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act

NOTICES

Recycling Program Development and Implementation Grants under Section 902 of Act 101 The Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act of 1988

[42 Pa.B. 1327]

[Saturday, March 10, 2012]

 The Department of Environmental Protection (Department) announces the availability of applications to municipalities for recycling program grant assistance under section 902 of the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act (act) (53 P. S. § 4000.902). Municipalities eligible for recycling grants include counties, cities, boroughs, incorporated towns, townships, home rule municipalities, councils of governments, consortiums or similar entities established by two or more municipalities under 53 Pa.C.S. Chapter 23, Subchapter A (relating to intergovernmental cooperation).

 Applicants must be in compliance with the act and the implementing regulations, the Department's Guidelines for Proper Management of Recyclable Materials and any previous grant contract provisions to be eligible to receive grant funding. County applicants should be in compliance with planning and other county-related provisions of the act. Applicants who are not in compliance with the act's annual reporting requirements or the program requirements in the act of November 9, 2006 (P. L. 1347, No. 140) will not be considered in this grant application round. Municipalities that were a grant recipient from the last 902 grant award round in 2010 will not be considered for funding this solicitation period. Programs operating in municipalities covered by land use plans and ordinances (as outlined under the acts of June 22, 2000 (P. L. 483, No. 67) and (P. L. 495, No. 68)) or projects that are in compliance with their municipality's land use plan will receive priority over similar programs and projects absent those conditions.

 Municipalities are eligible for 90% funding of approved recycling program costs. Municipalities considered financially distressed by the Department of Community and Economic Development under the Financially Distressed Communities Act are eligible for 100% of approved costs. No application requesting more than $250,000 in grant funding will be accepted.

 Applicants are required to complete the Sustainability Plan portion of the application that includes definitive actions and strategies for optimizing program self-sufficiency. The plan shall include, at a minimum: strategies for reducing costs and generating revenues, provisions for establishing incentives associated with waste reduction and recycling, mechanisms for public outreach and stakeholder input and tracking mechanisms to document progress toward sustainability milestones until optimum sustainability is realized. The Department's technical report on Building Financially Sustainable Recycling Programs can provide assistance in developing these methods and strategies. The technical report can be found on the Department's web site at www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/recycle/document/fin_sust_rec.pdf. Applicants that fail to complete the Sustainability Plan portion of the application will not be considered for funding.

 Applicants requesting support for the following (and demonstrating how the request will lead toward greater program self-sufficiency) will receive priority for funding:

 • Newly mandated municipalities based on the 2010 decennial census by the Bureau of the Census of the United States Department of Commerce.

 • An incentive based pricing and collection program designed to increase the quantities and types of recyclable materials and reduce the quantity of waste collected.

 • Multi-municipal collection, processing and/or materials marketing program where capital costs are reduced and/or recycling marketability is enhanced due to intergovernmental cooperation.

 • The development of electronic notices for recycling events and programs.

 • New or expanded collection, education and outreach for commercial and institutional establishments, including school recycling programs.

 In addition, communities whose existing recycling programs contain the following components will receive additional consideration:

 • Municipally operated or municipal contracted waste and recycling services that provide consistency and uniformity of the waste and recycling programs.

 • The collection of six or more of the following materials: newsprint, office paper, corrugated paper, other marketable grades of paper, aluminum cans, steel or bimetallic cans, colored glass containers, clear glass containers and plastics.

 Only those projects involving municipalities that have a mandatory trash collection program or projects seeking support for a residential recycling program that have a corresponding commercial recycling program will be considered for funding. Applicants seeking funds to replace curbside collection containers and/or collection vehicles will need to demonstrate that the new equipment will increase collection efficiencies and tonnage of materials.

 Eligible recycling program development costs include: recycling program design costs, recycling market investigations, development of recycling market commitments, development of recycling program ordinances, development of recycling public education programs and the costs of developing contracts for procuring equipment or services necessary for the operation of the recycling program.

 Eligible recycling program implementation costs include: purchasing or leasing vehicles used to collect recyclables (including automated and single-stream collection vehicles), transport recyclables to processing facilities or markets and vehicles used in the operation of a materials recovery facility; reusable containers for the collection or storage of recyclable materials; acquiring and/or renovating buildings for the processing or storage of recovered materials; equipment used to process or manufacture recyclable materials into usable products; improvements to land needed to operate a recycling facility or yard waste composting facility authorized under 25 Pa. Code § 271.103(h) (relating to permit-by-rule for municipal waste processing facilities other than for infectious or chemotherapeutic waste; qualifying facilities; general requirements); and the costs associated with educating the public on recycling program requirements. Under this grant solicitation, promotional items, glass crushing equipment (unless specific marketing arrangements have been identified), vehicles equipped with compaction units (except for the sole collection of yard waste, paper fiber and/or single-stream collection where a facility equipped to process such material has been identified), backyard composting units and public recycling containers for parks and streetscapes will not be considered eligible for funding. Other eligible and noneligible costs are listed in the grant application packet. Composting projects and programs will be considered to be recycling projects or programs accordingly.

 A municipality must retain sole ownership of equipment or facilities funded by the grant. Funding for equipment or facilities purchased for the recycling program used for recycling and other purposes will be prorated according to its recycling use (no equipment used for recycling less than 50% of the time will be eligible for funding). Funding for certain leaf and yard waste collection equipment may be limited according to its seasonal use. Funding for wood chipping equipment will be approved only when the equipment is part of an approved yard waste composting facility operating under the Department's guidelines and where the material is collected curbside from residents. Funding of street sweepers for the purpose of leaf collection will not be considered.

 Funding may be restricted in situations where equipment or services requested through a grant application may be available from the public or private sector within the county of the applicant. Public notices may be required before the grant application may be submitted depending upon the nature of the funding request. When the municipality submits the recycling grant application to the Department, it must include proof of compliance with the notification requirements, a description of any responses received to the notice, and an explanation of why the municipality has concluded that the mechanical processing equipment is not available to the program from the private sector.

 Potential applicants must contact the appropriate Department regional planning and recycling coordinator to schedule a preapplication conference to discuss application requirements and program particulars. Applications will be returned to municipalities that fail to schedule preapplication conferences. Grant application forms are available from the Department's regional offices and the Department's web site, www.depweb.state.pa.us (DEP Keyword ''Recycling Grants'').

 Grant applications must be received or postmarked by June 29, 2012. Applications received by the Department after that date will not be considered during the current round of solicitation. Applications must be on forms provided by the Department, with two copies submitted to the Department Central Office (Rachel Carson State Office Building, Harrisburg) and one copy submitted to the appropriate county recycling coordinator. Grant awards will be predicated on the receipt of recycling fees required by sections 701 and 702 of the act (53 P. S. §§ 4000.701 and 4000.702) and the availability of moneys in the Recycling Fund.

 Inquiries concerning this notice should be directed to Mark Vottero, Recycling Grants Coordinator, Department of Environmental Protection, Rachel Carson State Office Building, Bureau of Waste Management, Division of Waste Minimization and Planning, P. O. Box 8472, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8472, mvoterro@state.pa.us.

MICHAEL L. KRANCER, 
Secretary

Regional Planning and Recycling Coordinators

Southeast Region

 Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties

 DEP, Waste Management Program, Calvin Ligons, Ann Ryan, Mary Alice Reisse, 2 East Main Street, Norristown, PA 19401, (484) 250-5900, cligons@pa.gov, aryan@pa.gov, mreisse@pa.gov

Northeast Region

 Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Pike, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming Counties

 DEP, Waste Management Program, Rachel Miller, 2 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711-0790, (570) 826-2434, rachmiller@pa.gov

Southcentral Region

 Adams, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry and York Counties

 DEP, Waste Management Program, John Lundsted, 909 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110-8200, (717) 705-4927, jlundsted@pa.gov

Northcentral Region

 Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga and Union Counties

 DEP, Waste Management Program, Michelle Ferguson, 208 West 3rd Street, Suite 101, Williamsport, PA 17701, (570) 327-3783, miferguson@pa.gov

Southwest Region

 Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland Counties

 DEP, Waste Management Program, Sharon Svitek, Stephen Sales, Bradley Cunningham, 400 Waterfront Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15222-4745, (412) 442-4000, ssvitek@state.pa.gov, ssales@state.pa.gov, bcunningham@state.pa.gov

Northwest Region

 Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Venango and Warren Counties

 DEP, Pollution Prevention and Compliance Assistance, Guy McUmber, 230 Chestnut Street, Meadville, PA 16335-3481, (814) 332-6848, gmcumber@state.pa.gov

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 12-411. Filed for public inspection March 9, 2012, 9:00 a.m.]