County Circular Economy Funding Program will provide grants for Zero Waste Projects

Boulder County announced that $100,000 is available to be awarded as grants to help launch or grow circular economy projects. The application deadline is September 6.

"Circular Economy" is the county's rebranding of "Zero Waste." This grant program was formerly known as the "Zero Waste Funding Program."

In 2005 the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) created the Sustainability Initiative to support the reduction of the environmental footprint of county employees, residents and businesses.

In 2020 the initiative was turned into a department in the county government known as the Office of Sustainability, Climate Action and Resilience (OSCAR). The department runs the Partnership for a Clean Environment (PACE), EnergySmart and Watershed Health programs. Among the projects that the staff of 11 manages is Circular Economy Funding which has been available annually for the past 26 years.

OSCAR creates the Sustainability Plan for Boulder County at roughly five-year intervals. The plan was originally adopted in 2012, was updated in 2018 and again this year. The portion of the 2023 report regarding Circular Economy duplicates the text and graphics of the 2018 report chapter on Zero Waste except for the name change, the branding by OSCAR and some policy adjustments related to changes at the state level for single-use products. OSCAR continues to emphasize the goal of increasing the diversion of waste from landfills for internal county operations from 15% to 90% by 2025.

OSCAR encourages Boulder County residents to support Circular Economy in many ways including the use of reusable mugs, bottles, and bags, choosing longer lasting clothing, electronics and other household goods, and making use of "U-fix-it" clinics to keep products working longer.

Boulder County has four facilities that divert materials from the landfill: Eco-Cycle's Boulder County Recycling Center and its Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM), ReSource Central's ReSource Yard for used building materials and the tool library, and the Hazardous Materials Management Facility (HMMF) that accepts many kinds of hazardous household products to properly recycle, dispose of or make available for free to others.

OSCAR encourages people to reduce food waste and volunteer at a Zero Waste event. The recent change in composting rules and the effect on Zero Waste events has been significant for many people and events in Niwot such as Rock & Rails.

On April 1, the regional compost processor, A1 Organics, drastically reduced the types of compostable items they would accept. They made the change because people were putting too many non-compostable materials into their household compost such as plastic forks and plates. In order to circumvent the confusion about which products are compostable, A1 Organics banned all of them and now restricts household compost to food scraps and yard waste.

The Circular Economy Funding Program will provide $25,000 for small projects and $75,000 for large projects. From the program announcement, "the use of matching funds is not required. Local governments, non-profits, school districts, individual schools, and private companies may apply as long as the scope of work is within Boulder County and county-related insurance requirements are met."