The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) is awarding more than $250,000 in grants to 12 local community partners, a significant increase over recent years. SWACO’s Community Waste Reduction (CWR) grant program awards competitive grants each year for innovative projects that significantly reduce waste or increase the diversion of waste from the Franklin County Landfill. The recipients are local governments and nonprofits, schools, hospitals, and churches, and SWACO prioritizes applications with an emphasis on partnership and collaboration.
The projects funded by this year’s CWR grants prioritize waste reduction and reuse, including a new donation incentive program from Goodwill Columbus that will reward residents for donating their unwanted items to Goodwill instead of sending them to the landfill, programing at two Franklin County middle schools to teach the students about our waste stream and learn about how recycling and composting programs could be integrated with curriculum, and support for a program that accepts donations of used sports and playground equipment and makes it available to under-resourced schools and youth groups.
Reducing the amount waste coming into the landfill is one of our core missions, and it takes a community-wide effort,” said SWACO executive director, Joe Lombardi. “The Community Waste Reduction grant program helps fund an amazing array of innovative programs across the county that benefit our residents and help prolong the life of the landfill, and we’re thrilled to be able to fund so many of them this year.”
Successful Community Waste Reduction grant applications emphasize partnership-building and collaboration, and leverage the waste stream for community and economic benefit. They must be within SWACO’s jurisdiction of Franklin County, and the grant recipients are required to document the project’s impact. Grants are available for amounts ranging from $500 to $35,000, and recipients must provide a 20 percent cash match.
In 2024, SWACO awarded more than $113,000 in CWR grants to five local governments and other nonprofit organizations for initiatives to divert waste material from the landfill. The cities of Dublin and Gahanna used their funding last year to add recycling containers to city parks, ECDI started a composting program for the kitchens using its Food Fort facilities, Hilliard City Schools are funding a district-wide waste reduction study and strategic plan, and Ohio Dominican University is using it’s funding to implement a campus-wide single-stream recycling program.
Applications for 2026 CWR grants are now being accepted. To learn more about the CWR grant program, including eligibility, deadlines, and video statements from past grantees, visit SWACO.org.
Published May 2025
