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EPA Grant Supports Innovative Alternatives For Agricultural Waste Disposal

Release Date: 4/21/2000
Contact Information: Jennifer McNeil
mcneil.jennifer@epamail.epa.gov
(206) 553-1217

April 21, 2000 - - - - - - - - - - 00-25



For Immediate Release

On April 20, 2000, EPA Region 10 announced that a project proposal by San Francisco, CA-based Fiber Futures is one of three in the region that have been selected for funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Sustainable Development Challenge Grant program. Nationally, the EPA has selected a total of 27 innovative community and business partnership projects, from nearly 1,000 applicants, for grants which will support creative local partnerships that promise measurable environmental results and more livable communities.

Fiber Futures’ project, “Using Agricultural Residues in Closed-Loop Manufacturing,” will assist communities in eastern Washington and eastern Oregon in targeting agricultural crop residues which are typically burned to use them instead as feedstock resources for manufacturing pulp and paper, building materials, textile, and other fiber-based products. Significant environmental benefits are expected to result from the reuse of a waste product that, when traditionally disposed of, creates a significant air pollution problem. Meetings will be held in these communities with a diverse group of regional interests to gather input, outline challenges, and involve stakeholders in the planning process for local straw utilization facilities. In addition to reducing air and water pollution, as well as addressing the issue of wood fiber resource shortages, this proposal offers farmers an economically viable means to meet recently implemented agricultural burning phase downs by providing an additional source of reliable income, and stimulates research and development of other environmentally feasible harvest and production options.

Awards will be made after approval of final grant packages. The grant awards, which will total approximately $4 million, complete the fourth and final year of the Sustainable Development Challenge Grant (SDCG) Program and bring the total number of projects funded under this program to 123. All of these projects take innovative, environmentally responsible approaches to a wide variety of urban and rural environmental problems related to air and water quality, toxic substances, and/or solid waste management. Further information, including descriptions of the 27 new projects, is available at: www.epa.gov/ecocommunity.