HARRISBURG – Gov. Edward G. Rendell awarded $400,000 in grants to help Pennsylvania businesses and nonprofit organizations increase the volume of organic materials being composted instead of put into the waste stream.
“We are investing in innovative projects to better collect and reuse more organic wastes,” Governor Rendell said. “By diverting organic wastes to businesses and nonprofit groups for use in their finished products, we are significantly increasing the useful lives of our existing landfills. That’s good for the environment, good for business and good for the people of Pennsylvania.”
The Compost Infrastructure Development Grant Program awards the commonwealth’s business entities and nonprofit organizations financial support for projects that incorporate recovered organic materials into their finished products or increase the amount of organic material processed at an existing composting facility.
“Composting is a terrific example of how an environmental challenge can be turned into an economic development opportunity,” Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said. DEP administers the grant program.
“More than 30 percent of Pennsylvania’s municipal waste stream is yard waste, food waste and other organic material that could be recycled and composted, rather than being added to landfills,” McGinty said. “The finished compost can be marketed as a product to increase the nutritional content of soil and improve its moisture retention.”
Four businesses and nonprofit organizations will share the $400,000 in grants. One of the recipients was Penn State University in Centre County.
The university plansto use $92,000 for equipment that will enable existing composting equipment to be transported and shared between the State College Borough compost facility, the Centre County Solid Waste Authority and the university compost facility. Equipment sharing saves each partner money and it also creates a network of organic waste recycling partners within the region. The equipment purchased through this grant also will provide the partners the necessary means to initiate a three-year pilot program for the curbside collection of organic waste in residential areas surrounding State College. This project will be the first of its kind on the East Coast and will develop into a model program to be implemented throughout Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania’s recycling and reuse industry leads the nation in employment, payroll and sales numbers. More than 3,247 recycling and reuse businesses and organizations made more than $18.4 billion in gross annual sales, paid $305 million in taxes and provided jobs for more than 81,322 employees at an annual payroll of approximately $2.9 billion.