I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3237 

To authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 

award grants for municipal solid waste prevention and recycling program 

development, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 28, 2015 

Mr. ELLISON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants for municipal solid waste 

prevention and recycling program development, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Zero Waste Develop5 ment and Expansion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 The Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

8 Agency (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’) 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 3237 IH

1 shall award grants to local governments or consortia of 

2 local governments, which may be acting in coordination 

3 with one or more nongovernmental entities. The grants 

4 shall be used to develop solid waste prevention and recy5 cling tactics and operations, which may include— 

6 (1) development or deployment of technologies 

7 or practices to increase rates of waste prevention, re8 cycling, composting, or product reuse; 

9 (2) capital investment in infrastructure to start 

10 or expand waste prevention, recycling, composting, 

11 or product reuse programs; 

12 (3) partnerships with local businesses interested 

13 in incorporating new technologies or processes to re14 duce or prevent waste in production or packaging; or 

15 (4) community outreach and public education 

16 programming, including programming to— 

17 (A) increase community knowledge of ef18 fective waste prevention, recycling, composting, 

19 or product reuse practices; and 

20 (B) increase behavior that will reduce over21 all household waste generation. 

22 SEC. 3. GRANT REVIEW. 

23 (a) GRANT AWARDEES.—Grants shall be awarded 

24 under this Act to applicants that collectively represent a 

25 range of existing waste prevention, recycling, composting, 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 3237 IH

1 and product reuse rates. In order to be considered for this 

2 award, applicants must— 

3 (1) set specific waste prevention, recycling, 

4 composting, product reuse, or public education goals 

5 that will bring communities closer to zero waste; 

6 (2) have a clearly established plan to use grant 

7 funds for one or more of the purposes described in 

8 section 2; and 

9 (3) meet other criteria as determined by the 

10 Administrator. 

11 (b) ADDITIONAL FACTORS.—Additional weight may 

12 be given to the applications of local governments or con13 sortia that— 

14 (1) have statutorily committed to zero waste 

15 principles; 

16 (2) demonstrate job creation; 

17 (3) address the disproportionate environmental, 

18 health, and economic burden of waste disposal that 

19 is borne by communities of color and low income; 

20 (4) propose to use funds for waste prevention 

21 or recycling programs in schools; 

22 (5) employ adaptive management practices to 

23 identify and address unintended consequences as 

24 they arise, including potential contamination of land, 

25 water, air, or food; 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 3237 IH

1 (6) have a demonstrated need for additional in2 vestment in infrastructure and programs to achieve 

3 waste prevention or recycling; 

4 (7) will drive technologies for product reuse, re5 cycling, composting, or waste prevention; 

6 (8) demonstrate ways in which the grant will 

7 encourage further investment in waste prevention, 

8 recycling, composting, or product reuse projects; or 

9 (9) incorporate multistakeholder involvement, 

10 including nonprofit, commercial, and public sector 

11 partners. 

12 SEC. 4. REPORTING. 

13 Grant awardees shall report to the Administrator the 

14 results of their project and relevant data requested by the 

15 Administrator to track the grant program’s impact. 

16 SEC. 5. ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 

17 The Administrator shall convene or co-convene an an18 nual conference for current, past, and potential grantees, 

19 and other stakeholders, to learn from each other’s experi20 ences in moving toward a zero waste goal. 

21 SEC. 6. DEFINITION. 

22 In this Act, the term ‘‘recycling’’ means a series of 

23 activities by which material that has reached the end of 

24 its current use is processed into material utilized in the 

25 production of new products. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 3237 IH

1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Ad3 ministrator $100,000,000 for the period encompassing fis4 cal years 2016 through 2021 for carrying out this Act. 

Æ 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS