The following press release was published by the US EPA on Sept. 30. It is reproduced in full below.
LENEXA, KAN. (SEPT. 30, 2021) - Today, at a press event at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $469,924 in funding for three Sustainable Materials Management projects in the Kansas City area.
“By working to reduce the waste going to landfills and stopping pollution at the source,” said Acting EPA Region 7 Administrator Edward H. Chu, “these sustainable materials management projects will help the Kansas City area become an even stronger and more environmentally friendly community.”
“The UG remains committed to improving air quality and ensuring clean, safe water for Wyandotte County and the surrounding region,” said Mayor/CEO David Alvey, Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. “An organic composting facility could help reduce unnecessary waste going into area landfills, decreasing emissions harmful to the environment, and turning waste into composted materials that can be used for land applications such as an alternative to chemical fertilizers. We appreciate the EPA’s grant assistance to study the feasibility of this project, and value this partnership to improve the quality of life for our community and the region through sustainable materials management.”
“This grant allows MARC to convene regional partners and stakeholders to address food waste in a holistic way through prevention, rescue and composting,” said MARC Executive Director David Warm. “These strategies will get more fresh food to those in need, reduce the financial burden to individual households, limit greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the region’s disposal needs.”
“This new funding will accelerate our solid waste reduction work with Kansas schools, industries and communities,” said Paul Lowe, associate vice president for research and director, PreAward Services at Kansas State University. "It will divert millions of tons of waste from the landfills in Kansas, helping the state and Johnson County meet their solid waste reduction goals while acting as a model for future industrial and community partners."
Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) is a systemic approach to using materials more productively and finding new opportunities to reduce environmental impacts, conserve resources, and reduce costs over a product's life cycle. EPA’s SMM program supports efforts to help build community health by reducing the use, release and exposure to toxic chemicals; using life-cycle approaches to reduce the health and environmental impacts of materials use; and employing upstream solutions that reduce the need for and cost of environmental cleanup and pollution management.
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Source: US EPA
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