Non-Profit grants requests issued!

Measure D, the ordinance passed in 1990 that created Stopwaste.Org, requires that stopwaste give 10% of it’s receipts to (64.060(b)(2).  Thus, nearly $365,000 in grants is being released to non-profits.

The exciting new funding priority has been in food waste reduction by partnering with large generators of food waste like big industrial kitchens that serve 1,000′s of people.  There’s also other types of grants for non-profits including mini-grants (less than $3K.)

Here’s my advice on how to get a grant.

1)  Contact stopwaste to inquire about your grant idea before you apply.

2)  Apply early.

3)  Read   http://www.stopwaste.org/npgrants

 

Altamont Education Advisory Board Grants in the East Bay

 

Thinking of doing something like the following:

• Waste prevention and recycling programs that serve schools (recycling supplies, program materials and other education activities such as field trips);
• Community education through waste prevention and recycling education programs;
• Job training in the field of waste prevention and recycling.

You’re in luck.  Someone like me thought to remind someone like you that there is grant money available… but the deadline is fast approaching.  (Thier website says November 2nd.)

Good candidates are  educators but all creative minds are encouraged to apply.

http://www.altamonteab.org/index.php/apply/grant-guidelines

Typical grant is less than $3K but some are larger AND the process is very straightforward and simple.

All ideas accepted.  You can do it.

Stopwaste.Org Awarded $79.5K in grants for reusables! Additional round of grants available.

A big thanks to all the people who are promoting reusable containers to reduce waste and especially Justin Lehrer and Michelle Jeffery @stopwaste for all the work they did to make this happen.   Promoting Reusables is an uphill battle so these successes (and grants) are really important!  Thanks so much.    And to all those that are interested in promoting reusables to reduce waste, share this info or apply for a grant!  Your ideas are needed!    —– Cheers, Jason.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 4, 2012

Justin Lehrer, Tel. 510-891-6500 x129 Michelle Jeffery, Tel. 510-891-6500 x139

StopWaste.Org’s Use Reusables Campaign Awards $79.5K in Grants

Six Organizations to Model Best Practices in Transport Packaging

Oakland, CA—The “Use Reusables” campaign, led by public agency Stopwaste.Org, has awarded $79,500 in grant funding to help six businesses replace limited-life transport packaging materials with durable, reusable alternatives, on a pilot project basis. The grantees are non-profit MedShare (San Leandro, CA), Tesla Motors (Fremont, CA), Veritable Vegetable (San Francisco, CA), America’s Best Coffee Roasting Company (Oakland, CA), Straus Family Creamery (Petaluma, CA) and Shin Shin Foods (Portland, OR).

Each organization will transition a portion of their operations from expendable transport packaging materials—such as boxes, pallets and stretch film—to reusables, also contributing significant investment of their own. Taken together, the six projects will eliminate 150 tons of packaging waste and reduce costs by approximately $675,000 each year. In addition, the projects will prevent and estimated 1,730 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), over their estimated lifetime.

“Reusable transport packaging can bring considerable benefits to organizations of all sizes in many different industries, from family-run dairies to major players in the automotive industry,” said Justin Lehrer, program manager at StopWaste.Org who leads the Use Reusables campaign. “These pilot projects will demonstrate to the larger business community that reusable transport packaging helps increase supply chain efficiencies while reducing environmental impacts.”

MedShare is using the grant funding to replace limited-life wooden pallets with longer-lasting reusable pallets to process donated medical supplies for hospitals in the developing world. Tesla Motors is eliminating corrugated cardboard and plastic foam packaging used for glass components of the Model S sedan and replacing them with custom reusable glass racks. Veritable Vegetable and Straus Family Creamery are switching from disposable plastic stretch film to reusable pallet wrap for produce and milk distribution to select customers. America’s Best Coffee Roasting Company is converting their delivery system from cardboard boxes to reusable plastic totes. Shin Shin Foods is replacing paper flour sacks with bulk flour delivery by rail to aluminum flour silos.    

The grants were the first round of financial assistance provided by the Use Reusables campaign, a joint project of StopWaste.Org and the Reusable Packaging Association, with financial support from U.S. EPA’s Climate Showcase Communities program. Since its launch in 2007, the campaign has worked on-on-one with hundreds of organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, through training workshops, events and expert advice, supported by a suite of educational materials and a comprehensive website. 
A second round of grant funding will open on November 15, 2012. To learn more about the Use Reusables campaign, and to sign up for email notifications, please visit www.UseReusables.Com.

useReusables.com Bay Area Workshop in San Leandro, Ca.

– tell anyone that might be interested –

Reusable Transport Packaging Workshop

Tuesday, September 11, 2012, 9AM-12PM (includes continental breakfast)
Peterson University, 2700 Teagarden Street, San Leandro, CA 94577

Making smart decisions about transport packaging materials – such as pallets and crates – can save costs, reduce product damage and lower your company’s environmental footprint. Evaluate what Reusables could do for your business at a free, three-hour workshop, presented by StopWaste.Org.
Who should attend? Corporate executives, supply chain directors, packaging engineers, sustainability managers, materials managers… and anyone interested in learning more about the environmental and economic value of reusable transport packaging.

Workshop is free, but RSVP required.

Mandatory Recycling Has Arrived!

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_20992759/recycling-rule-july-1-some-residents-and-most

Recycling the rule as of July 1 for some residents and most businesses By Angela Woodall Oakland Tribune San Jose Mercury News

Recycling until now has been the right thing to do.

Beginning this week, it’s the law in California for most businesses and some residents — the ones living in multifamily residential properties. Alameda County timed its own recycling rules, aimed at helping residents meet the state regulations, to start July 1.

Now recyclables — paper, cardboard, recyclable food and glass beverage containers, aluminum and metal containers, as well as certain plastic bottles — must go into recycling bins instead of the garbage.

The county ordinance requires multifamily residential buildings in Alameda County with five or more units to have recycling service sufficient to handle the amount of recyclables they produce. Multifamily property owners or managers will have to provide containers marked with signs describing the correct way to separate and dispose of recyclables, as well as arrange for their collection. Owners have to make sure tenants are informed of the rules but will not be responsible for enforcement.

Mandatory recycling also applies to commercial property owners, property managers and institutions such as hospitals and nonprofit organizations that generate four or more cubic yards of garbage per week.

They have to arrange for collection of recyclables and marked containers to hold them. They also have to inform employees about where recycling containers are located and how to use them.

If a business or multifamily building is found to be out of compliance, a warning will be issued to the business, property owner or manager. But enforcement doesn’t actually begin until January 2013.

Then the county can issue citations and fines: no more than $500 for the first violation, $750 for the second violation and $1,000 for the third and subsequent violations in a year.

A separate notice of violation may be issued for each day on which a violation occurs.

Stopwaste awards more than $220k in grants!

NEWS RELEASE

StopWaste.Org Awards More than $220,000 to Local Nonprofits
Innovative waste reduction projects benefit Alameda County

OAKLAND – StopWaste.Org has awarded grants to nine nonprofit organizations for innovative waste reduction projects ranging from Little League game-day recycling to medical supply reuse. “We have a great diversity of programs we’re funding,” said StopWaste.Org Executive Director Gary Wolff. “We value the creative approaches these organizations are taking to divert nearly 8,000 tons of resources from landfills.”

Grant awardees include:
· Alameda County Food Bank: $10,000 for work tables to improve food sorting, helping to minimizing food waste.
· Alameda Little League: $8,000 to institute a recycling program, including food scraps, at league games.
· Community Conservation Center: $85,000 in matching grant funds for infrastructure to include plastics in materials recovery.
· Hope for the Heart Food Bank: $30,000 for recycling and reuse infrastructure improvements that will increase reuse of materials for the community and provide feed for farmers from food scraps.
· Loved Twice: $15,000 to assist with securing and distributing used baby clothing to low-income mothers in need.
· MedShare: $15,000 to sustain and grow award-winning medical supply reuse program.
· OTX/Marcus Foster: $15,000 for refurbishment and reuse of computer equipment distributed free to Oakland Unified School District students.
· Resource Area for Teachers (RAFT): $15,000 for diverting unused manufacturing and business supplies to create classroom activity kits for teachers.
· St. Vincent de Paul: $30,400 in matching grant funds for truck purchase to support recycling program that diverts more than 4,500 tons of waste from landfill per year.

StopWaste.Org distributes grants to nonprofit organizations annually. Amounts vary, but typically do not exceed $65,000 dollars. Awarded projects are those that increase individual and community involvement in source reduction and recycling, decrease the amount of waste generated and sent to Alameda County landfills, and encourage the development, marketing and use of recycled products.

Oakland’s Zero Waste Plan and Apartment Buildings.

(just got this from the Sierra Club)  Link to the letter writing page is here. 

Don’t leave apartments out of Oakland Zero Waste plan

Oakland is designing a new “Zero Waste” collection system to be implemented in 2015, which will last for 10 years or more. The proposal has many excellent points, but it still needs an essential improvement.

Under the current proposal, single-family residences would continue to put out separate carts for recyclables, compostables, and garbage. Multifamily buildings, however, would receive pick-ups just for recycling and garbage, with compostables mixed in the garbage. This mixed garbage would be processed at a mixed-materials processing facility, which would try to sort out the compostables (organic matter) from the items going to landfill.

This distinction between residential and multi-family buildings is wrong — both for the environment and for the people. Compost derived from mixed garbage is contaminated (sometimes by hazardous waste in the dumpsters), and can’t be used for farms and food crops. Further, treating apartment-dwellers as second-class residents, unable to learn to distinguish between compostables and trash, is insulting to them, and leaves them out of the city’s efforts to achieve Zero Waste.

Multi-family buildings could get separate pick-ups of compostables for an extra charge, paying a penalty for the opportunity to dispose of their waste responsibly. History has shown, however, that when Oakland rental owners are asked to pay extra fees to provide an extra service, they will almost always decline.

Send a message to Oakland’s City Council before their meeting on June 5th.

Let them know that it is essential that the new Oakland recycling contract require that compost bins be provided at multi-unit buildings at no extra cost.

Please feel free to modify the middle section of the email, letting the City Council know why this issue is important to you. Or just leave this section as it is, whichever you prefer.

Thanks for all you do for the environment,