Quick Green Tip: Grants available for preventing litter
What does a new trash can and small patch of landscaped area in downtown Bakersfield have in common with half a dozen new recycling containers at Hollister High School in California's litter prevention grants are available for applications from Keep California Beautiful, a nonprofit organization working with the state-funded Clean California initiative. The grants aim to reduce litter in outdoor public spaces and collect data on the effectiveness of cleanups versus using litter receptacles or small landscaping projects. The nonprofit has $250,000 to allocate to 15 projects statewide by May 1, and has so far identified six projects totalling approximately $105,000 in costs. All projects must be started by June 30, 2024, with receptacles ordered, installed or nearing completion of installation. Applicants must explain their plans for monitoring receptacles, long-term maintenance plans, and identify department responsible for managing the maintenance.
Published : 4 weeks ago by David Goldstein in
What does a new trash can and small patch of landscaped area in downtown Bakersfield have in common with half a dozen new recycling containers at Hollister High School in San Benito County, and how do those receptacles highlight an opportunity for Ventura County?
Bakersfield and the high school are tentatively slated to receive funding from a grant program with funds available for similar research projects elsewhere in the state. Cities, counties, colleges, K-12 schools, nonprofit organizations and transportation authorities throughout California are eligible to apply for litter prevention grants from Keep California Beautiful, a nonprofit organization implementing projects in cooperation with the state-funded Clean California initiative.
Keep California Beautiful has $250,000 to allocate to 15 projects statewide by May 1, and has so far identified only six projects, totaling approximately $105,000 in costs. Presenting even better prospects for a local project, in an effort to spread the grants statewide, Keep California Beautiful reserved at least two of its allocations for a site in CalTrans District 7, comprising Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and the organization currently has no applicants for those opportunities.
Proposed projects must be designed to “transform littered areas into clean, beautiful spaces.” The Bakersfield trash can and landscaped area qualified due to a lack of similar trash receptacles and “parklets” in the area. The high school recycling containers qualified because, in the absence of a recycling program, some students were putting recyclables on the ground next to the trash cans, rather than throwing away the recyclables. Litter — even recyclables placed on the ground with good intentions —- often begets more litter, so adding recycling containers and implementing a recycling program will likely address the problem.
Other potential projects suggested by Keep California Beautiful include the following: routine cleanup and maintenance of a space; cleanup plus providing litter collection, ash or recycling receptacles; cleanup, collection receptacles and small landscape design; and cleanup plus capture devices for “flowing” litter entering a marine environment.
The goal is not just to reduce litter in outdoor public spaces, but also to collect data on the effectiveness of cleanups versus using litter receptacles and devices or small landscaping projects. Data collected at locations in other states show a reduction of litter by 56% in areas where trash receptacles are appropriately installed and maintained, according to Dr. Cecile Carson, administering the grant application process for Keep California Beautiful.
All projects must be started by June 30, 2024, with receptacles or landscape ordered, installed or nearing completion of installation. This deadline is necessary because the first assessment of the grant awarded projects’ successes will also be due by June 30.
Of course, as with most grants, receiving money also requires spending money. As part of the application, applicants must explain their “service plan for monitoring receptacles or long-term maintenance and irrigation plans for the beautification project.” Applicants must identify the department responsible for managing the plans and explain “how the maintenance will be funded long-term.” The applicant must also agree to collect litter assessment data five times in one year and identify the individual responsible for coordinating the data collection.
If you know a park with insufficient trash cans, or a beach with trash cans missing tops and ravaged by seagulls, get in touch with the public agency in charge of the site, and tell the staff about this grant opportunity.
David Goldstein, Environmental Resource Analyst with the Ventura County Public Works Agency, may be reached at 805-658-4312 or [email protected].