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The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) administers the Organics Grant Program to provide opportunities to further the purposes of the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) and lower overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by expanding existing capacity or establishing new facilities in California to reduce the amount of California-generated green materials, food materials, or alternative daily cover (ADC) being sent to landfills. In its seventh cycle of this program, CalRecyle has allocated nearly $155 million in funding for projects up to $13 million each. Grant applications are due April 20, 2023.

What entities are eligible to apply?

• Local governments
  • Cities, counties, and cities and counties as defined in Public Resources Code section 30109
  • Regional or local sanitation agencies, waste agencies, or Joint Powers Authorities.
• Private, for-profit entities
• State agencies (including offices, departments, bureaus, and boards)
• The University of California campuses, the California State University campuses, or California Community Colleges campuses
• Nonprofit organizations (except private schools) registered with the federal government under 501(c)3, (c)4, (c)6 or (c)10 of the Internal Revenue Code
• Qualifying Native American Tribes

What projects are eligible?

• Construction, renovation, or expansion of facilities to increase in-state infrastructure for the composting or digestion of organics into compost, soil amendments, fertilizers, biofuels, or bioenergy.
• Construction, renovation, or expansion of facilities to increase in-state infrastructure for the pre-processing of organics. Projects must result in an increase in tons of green or food materials diverted from landfills beyond that which the pre-processor was already diverting.

What are the project requirements?

1. Projects must be located in California and facilitate or result in reductions in GHG emissions compared to existing practice of landfilling green or food materials within California; and increases in quantity (tons) of green materials or food materials, newly diverted from landfill disposal or Alternative Daily Cover (ADC) use, and composted or digested in California. For purposes of this program, “newly diverted” means the tons of materials that are currently being landfilled or used as ADC that will instead be diverted as a result of this project.
2. For Co-Digestion Projects – Project must either have an existing food waste receiving station with excess capacity on-site or propose to construct new or expanded food waste receiving station infrastructure that allows for direct receipt of food waste into the anaerobic digester(s).  (A project that proposes to receive food waste at the headworks or through the sewage system for co-digestion is ineligible.)
3. For Anaerobic Digestion Projects and Co-Digestion Projects – Project must utilize the biogas that is generated to produce transportation fuel, renewable electricity, heat, or biomethane for pipeline injection.

What are the award amounts and funding types? $154,960,671 is available in this solicitation, subject to funding availability. The grant awards per project type are:

1. Anaerobic Digestion/Co-Digestion Projects ($56,549,473 total funding) and Composting Projects ($78,411,198 total funding)
   1. Anaerobic digestion or composting of food waste and/or green waste to produce renewable energy or nutrient-rich soil products.
   2. Up to $10,000,000 per project
2. Stand-Alone Pre-Processing Projects ($15,000,000 total funding)
   1. Projects that remove contaminants from food waste/or green waste feedstock prior to composting or digestion, that are not co-located at a composting or anaerobic digestion facility
   2. Award amount $500,000 – $3,000,000
3. Anaerobic Digestion/Co-Digestion Projects or Composting Projects with Stand-Alone Pre-Processing Projects
   1. Projects in a Cooperative Application (two or more eligible entities applying together) that include Anaerobic digestion/Co-Digestion or Composting project and a stand-alone pre-processing project. Grant funded Equipment/Infrastructure must be identified at all locations
   2. Up to $13,000,000
4. In-Vessel Composting Projects ($5,000,000 total funding)
   1. Composting of food waste and/or green waste with in-vessel composting technology
   2. Award amount $250,000 – $500,000

What is the timeline for the Organics Grant Program?  Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on April 20, 2023. Grants will be awarded in October 2023, and the grant term ends on April 1, 2026.

The Application Guidelines and Instructions can be found here.

For more information on this program or how to apply with Morrison’s assistance, please contact the Morrison Grants Team by email at grants@morrisonco.net or call us at 530-893-4764.