This agreement provides funding from the infrastructure investment and jobs act (IIJA)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded a $1,746,339 Project Grant under the Reduce, Reuse, Recycling Education and Outreach (REO) Grants program (CFDA 66.921) to Edventure Inc., a non-profit children's museum, to create interactive museum exhibits featuring dinosaurs made from recycled and repurposed materials. The purpose is to educate families and children about better recycling habits, including reusing, remanufacturing, and working toward a circular economy. The grant funds the design and construction of two such exhibits - one in Columbia, SC and another in Myrtle Beach, SC. Once the exhibits are open, Edventure and its advisory group will teach visitors, particularly children and families, about preventing and reducing waste by choosing to reuse, repair, or remanufacture materials rather than disposing them. The anticipated outcomes include increased participation in recycling or composting programs and lower contamination in the waste stream in the local communities, as well as the creation of two new jobs at Edventure due to increased attendance and visitor time at the museum.

EPA's consumer recycling education and outreach (REO) grant program will fund a range of projects that will increase waste prevention activities, increase the collection of recyclable materials and program participation rates, and decrease contamination of the recycling stream, fund projects that focus on commonly recycled materials such as municipal solid waste (e.g., plastics, aluminum, paper, glass, etc.), including food waste and organics, and/or fund projects and provide tools and technical assistance that will lead to long-term, sustained change, benefits, and support beyond the life of the grant. The purpose of this award is to enhance edventure's efforts to meet the REO grants elements. Specifically, edventure will create a museum exhibit of dinosaurs made from recycled and repurposed materials with a storyline and messaging that will educate families and children about better recycling habits, including reusing, remanufacturing, and even working toward a circular economy.activities:the activities to be performed include: (1) edventure and the advisory group will advise exhibits design and fabrication contractors to design and construct two exhibits that will include dinosaurs made of recyclable, reusable materials-one in columbia, another in myrtle beach, SC; (2) once the exhibits are open to the public, the exhibits and edventure educators will teach children and families to prevent and reduce waste by choosing to reuse, repair, or remanufacture materials rather than tossing them into the recycling system or a landfill; and (3) members of the advisory group and edventure will travel to interactivity 2027, a children's museum conference in which the group shares its process for creating this exhibit and the data collected from the opening of the exhibit until the presentation in april 2027.subrecipient:no subawards are included in this assistance agreement.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include the design and creation of an interactive museum exhibit dinosaurs made from recycled and repurposed materials with a storyline and messaging that will educate families and children about better recycling habits, including reusing, remanufacturing, and even working toward a circular economy. The expected outcomes include . Increased participation in recycling or composting programs and lower contamination in the waste stream in the communities in which the museum visitors live and produce waste. In addition, the grant is expected to create two new jobs at ED venture due to increased attendance and visitor time in the museum, though these two jobs are not funded by the grant. The intended beneficiaries include edventure itself, attendees of interactivity 2027 who will learn about the innovative exhibit, and the thousands of visitors per year that attend edventure exhibits in both columbia and myrtle beach, SC. In the past, visitors have been shown to come from all 46 counties in south carolina and from many states around the country.