Weymouth awarded $31,500 grant for local recycling efforts

massdep

Weymouth, MA – Mayor Robert Hedlund announced today that the Town has received a $31,500 Recycling Dividends Grant through the Sustainable Materials Recovery Program to support townwide recycling efforts. More than $2.3 million in Recycling Dividends Grants were awarded to 238 municipalities and regional solid waste districts in the latest grant round.

The Recycling Dividends Program (RDP) provides grant payments to qualifying municipalities that have implemented specific programs that are proven to maximize materials reuse and recycling, as well as waste reduction. Payments are determined by the number of criteria points that a local program earns.

Communities that receive a Recycling Dividends Grant must reinvest the funds in their recycling programs for things such as new recycling bins or carts, public education and outreach campaigns, collection of hard-to-recycle items, or the establishment of recycling programs in schools, municipal buildings, or other public spaces.

The RDP was a new initiative rolled out in 2014 under the state’s Sustainable Materials Recovery Program (SMRP), which was created by the Green Communities Act of 2008 and is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). The Act requires that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Waste Energy Certificates (WECs) be directed to recycling programs approved by the MassDEP. The SMRP initiative has provided more than $24 million in recycling programs since July of 2010.

The number of municipalities that qualified for the RDP increased nearly 10 percent over last year and the value of the awards also increased. In this round, Weymouth received $5,500 above its fiscal year 2017 grant amount.   

“Recycling and waste reduction work happens every day at the local level, and it’s our shared responsibility to see that it happens,” said Mayor Robert Hedlund. “Grants like this allow us to continue our work, even as markets and costs change, so we can become better stewards of the environment.”