This agreement provides funding from the infrastructure investment and jobs act (IIJA) to fort peck assiniboine and sioux tribes

This Cooperative Agreement award, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) Grants for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia program (CFDA 66.920), provides $744,809 to the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes to enhance their municipal solid waste management and recycling programs.

The key products and services to be delivered under this award include: 1) expanding and improving recycling collection locations, services, and staffing across the Fort Peck Indian Reservation; 2) purchasing equipment such as a new truck, trailer, skid-steer, and a larger cardboard baler to handle increased recycling volumes; 3) establishing a mercury bulb crushing center and tire shredding facility with identified end-markets; and 4) increasing the overall diversion of recyclable and bulky waste materials from the local landfill. The intended outcomes are to discourage illegal dumping, improve the quality of recycled materials, and reduce environmental contamination on the reservation.

EPA's solid waste infrastructure for recycling (swifr) grants for tribes and intertribal consortia will fund projects that focus on encouraging environmentally sound post-consumer materials management, fund projects that will result in a decrease in the generation of municipal solid waste and/or an increase in the diversion of municipal solid waste from landfills and incineration; and/or fund projects that provide or expand access to source reduction, reuse, recycling, backhaul, anaerobic digestion, and composting for tribes and tribal members of intertribal consortia. The purpose of this award is to enhance the efforts to meet the swifr grants elements. Specifically, the recipient will develop and update their plans focused on encouraging environmentally sound post-consumer materials management such as source reduction, collection, storage, transportation, composting, recycling, and/or markets for recyclables. Additionally, they will establish, increase, and expand materials management infrastructure, such as facilities for reuse, recycling or composting; collection and storage bins for recyclable or organic material, purchasing and maintaining equipment or supplies such as scales, crushers, balers, and sorting equipment, trucks, forklifts, and safety equipment; establish or identify end-markets for the use of recycled materials. Lastly, they will demonstrate an increase in the diversion recycling rate, and quality of materials collected. Activities:the activities to be performed include three main stages. This includes: expanding and improving recycling collection locations, services, and program staffing; purchasing bulk-reducing and hauling equipment; and researching local end-markets for newly collectable materials. Subrecipient:no subawards are included in this assistance agreement.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include an additional community served with recycling collection trailer, 26 existing recycling collection facilities regularly visited with increased staff, mercury bulb crushing center established with connection to identified markets for the collected mercury, tire shredding center established with connection to markets and donation opportunities for the shredded tires, one new truck, trailer, and skid-steer purchased for transporting and managing cardboard, and an expanded capacity cardboard baler purchased to manage the increased volume of cardboard imported on the reservation. The expected outcomes include increased collection of common recyclables in major population centers of the reservation, discouragement of illegal dumping and improper use of recycling facilities leading to an increase in quality of recycled items, overall reduction of illegal dumping and associated environmental contamination paired with increased community pride, safer fish consumption and protection of large raptors at the top of the food chain by diverting mercury toward careful collection, thereby avoiding spills and bioaccumulation, and a decrease in the amount of bulky waste items arriving at the wolf point landfill. The intended beneficiaries include the reservation residents of the fort peck reservation in western montana, which is home to 7,000 tribal members and spans four county regions.