Zero Waste Development and Expansion Act of 2017

To authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants for municipal solid waste prevention, reuse, and recycling program development, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Zero Waste Development and Expansion Act of 2017 2. Grant program The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (in this Act referred to as the Administrator (1) development or deployment of technologies or practices to increase rates of waste prevention, reuse, recycling, or composting; (2) capital investment in infrastructure to start or expand waste prevention, reuse, recycling, composting, or product reuse programs; (3) partnerships with local businesses interested in incorporating new technologies or processes to reduce or prevent waste in production or packaging; or (4) community outreach and public education programming, including programming to— (A) increase community knowledge of effective waste prevention, reuse, recycling, or composting; and (B) increase behavior that will reduce overall household waste generation. 3. Grant review (a) Grant awardees Grants shall be awarded under this Act to applicants that collectively represent a range of existing waste prevention, reuse, recycling, and composting rates. In order to be considered for this award, applicants must— (1) set specific waste prevention, reuse, recycling, composting, or public education goals that will bring communities closer to zero waste; (2) have a clearly established plan to use grant funds for one or more of the purposes described in section 2; and (3) meet other criteria as determined by the Administrator. (b) Additional factors Additional weight may be given to the applications of local governments or consortia that— (1) have statutorily committed to zero waste principles; (2) demonstrate job creation; (3) have partnerships with domestic manufacturers who will use locally recycled materials to spur the growth of domestic manufacturing businesses and the creation of domestic manufacturing jobs; (4) address the disproportionate environmental, health, and economic burden of waste disposal that is borne by communities of color and low income; (5) propose to use funds for waste prevention, reuse, or recycling programs in schools; (6) employ adaptive management practices to identify and address unintended consequences as they arise, including potential contamination of land, water, air, or food; (7) have a demonstrated need for additional investment in infrastructure and programs to achieve waste prevention, reuse, or recycling; (8) will drive technologies for product reuse, recycling, composting, or waste prevention; (9) demonstrate ways in which the grant will encourage further investment in waste prevention, reuse, recycling, or composting projects; or (10) incorporate multistakeholder involvement, including nonprofit, commercial, and public sector partners. 4. Reporting Grant awardees shall report to the Administrator the results of their project and relevant data requested by the Administrator to track the grant program’s impact. 5. Annual conference The Administrator shall convene or co-convene an annual conference for current, past, and potential grantees, and other stakeholders, to learn from each other’s experiences in moving toward a zero waste goal. 6. Definitions In this Act: (1) Recycling The term recycling (2) Reuse The term reuse (3) Waste prevention The term waste prevention (A) measures or techniques that reduce the amount of wastes generated during industrial production processes; and (B) reuse, recycling, and other efforts to reduce the amount of waste going into the waste stream. (4) Zero waste The term zero waste 7. Authorization of appropriations There are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator $100,000,000 for the period encompassing fiscal years 2018 through 2023 for carrying out this Act.

Summary: Zero Waste Development and Expansion Act of 2017 This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to award grants to local governments for developing solid waste prevention, reuse, and recycling tactics and operations. Applicants must set specific waste prevention, reuse, recycling, composting, or public education goals that will bring communities closer to zero waste. Zero waste is a goal to guide people towards emulating sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use. The EPA must convene an annual conference for grantees and other stakeholders to learn about moving toward a zero waste goal.