New Mexico Environment Department accepting RAID grant applications

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), Santa Fe, has announced it is accepting applications for 2016-2017 Recycling and Illegal Dumping (RAID) Act grants. Municipalities, counties, solid waste authorities, cooperative associations, land grant communities, pueblos, tribes and nations are eligible entities encouraged to apply for scrap tire management, illegal dumping abatement and recycling projects.

Funds totaling $1 million are available to eligible entities. The department encourages ineligible entities to partner with eligible entities.

Two-thirds of the grant fund is available for scrap tire management, while one-third is available for illegal dumping abatement and recycling projects, according to the NMED. Although no matching funds are required to be eligible, in-kind and cash fund matching increases the chances of a project receiving funding, the department says.

The NMED says entities that plan to apply should review the priorities for the RAID grant cycle before beginning their planning, which can be found on the Solid Waste Bureau website at https://www.env.nm.gov/swb/GrantandLoanPrograms.htm.

Proposals consistent with these priorities are significantly more likely to receive funding, the department says, such as abatement of illegal dumpsites near bodies of water, tire amnesty days, educational outreach and projects that promote organics recycling.

Applicants are encouraged to apply for significant projects that will expend substantial funding. The NMED says it seeks to award fewer grants that individually accomplish more than a multitude of smaller projects. However, applicants should not be discouraged from applying for smaller projects that are in need.

Grant applications can be found on the Solid Waste Bureau website at:

https://www.env.nm.gov/swb/GrantandLoanPrograms.htm.

Applications are due at 5 p.m., Friday, April 1, 2016, and can be submitted by email, fax, mail or in person at the Solid Waste Bureau office. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for the fiscal year starting on July 1, 2016, and ending on June 30, 2017. Although projects must be completed within this time period, multiyear projects designed with phases corresponding to these fiscal year grant cycles will receive special consideration, the department explains.

For more information about the RAID grants or the upcoming grant cycle or to discuss project ideas, contact Recycling Coordinator Neal Denton by phone at 505-827-2653 or by email at neal.denton@state.nm.us.