Grants Galore: Funding the Reuse Movement
From the rare million-dollar federal grant to municipal microgrants, public funding is scaling reuse
By Mai Li Spencer
Across the U.S. and Canada, forward-thinking governments are proving that strategic grants can be catalysts to reuse transitions. Here, we’re highlighting some key ways governments at all levels — federal, state, and municipal — have been investing in our communities and building a reuse economy.
Federal Infrastructure Investments
Of course, we’d love to see more federal funding for reuse systems and the transition to a reuse economy in the U.S., but we have one prime example in the EPA’s Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) grant, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021. This federal funding was meant to target large system-wide infrastructure projects, and the grant has provided states, municipalities, and tribes sizable investments in waste diversion and reuse systems over the past three years.
For instance, in 2023, the EPA awarded $1.5 million to the Hawaiʻi County Department of Environmental Management, who partnered with Perpetual and Zero Waste Hawai’i Island, to develop and implement a city-wide reusable foodware and refillable bottle system in Hilo. These funds went to an extensive community engagement and research process to design a blueprint for Hilo’s reusable foodware system. This comprehensive blueprint maps collection points, return loops, and commercial sanitation for the city that other Hawaiian island and mainland communities alike can replicate. Funds also went to launching this new system, supporting infrastructure purchases such as transport vehicles, return bins, dishwashers, and tracking technology.
When it comes to federal funding for reuse or reduction-focused projects, our neighbors to the North are showing great leadership. Environment and Climate Change Canada, the federal department responsible for coordinating environmental policies and programs, has invested in 17 projects and counting.
One such example is Banff Borrows, facilitated by the Town of Banff. The $180,000 in funding from ECCC allowed the town to expand the existing Borrow a Cup program, an open-loop, reusable cup program among cafes, to also service large-scale events in Banff. Funds also went to implementing the new Borrow a Bag program, providing Banff shoppers with free, reusable bags that they can return to designated bins across town. This is just one of ECCC’s impactful projects that went to furthering reuse and refill systems across Canada.
States Funding Reuse Service Providers
At the state level, environmental agencies are increasingly funding reuse service providers (RSPs) directly. States have identified these RSPs as key third-party enablers for reuse because of their role managing return logistics, commercial washing, and container tracking.
In Massachusetts, MassDEP’s Recycling & Reuse Business Development Grant funded the development of an industrial-scale foodware washing facility in Hyde Park. Operated by Re:Dish, the facility collects, sanitizes, tracks, and redelivers reusable foodware, replacing single-use food containers in the greater Boston area. A key part of this funding went to purchasing an automated foodware destacker that has been essential to expanding the facility’s dishwashing capacity.
On the other side of the country, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has also invested in scaling RSP operations via its Recycling Grant Program. In Fiscal Year 2024, ADEQ awarded Bold Reuse $208,000 to establish the Phoenix Metro Regional Reuse Wash Hub to scale reusable packaging systems and reduce single-use food and drinkware from large-scale entertainment and sports venues, events, and corporate campuses. Two years later, it provided Bold Reuse with another nearly $60,000 in funds to replace single-use cafeteria trays and utensils with durable reusables across two elementary schools in the Madison School District. Benefitting 1,647 students, this grant directly funded equipment and RSP logistics to eliminate an estimated 253,800 single-use items in the 2025–2026 school year. Furthermore, this program created a replicable reusable foodware system for K-12 schools in Arizona.
Just this year in California, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery allocated nearly $5 million from its Beverage Container Recycling Grant to Revino, a reusable glass bottle service provider. With these funds, Revino is planning to build a commercial bottle-washing facility that when fully operational, can clean and redistribute up to 10 million glass bottles annually. This new infrastructure will reduce the carbon footprint of California wineries significantly as wine bottles are redistributed locally and used multiple times — needing only three uses to become carbon neutral, according to the company.
Other state grants have funded reuse infrastructure as well, including Colorado Circular Communities’ Impact Grant, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Waste Reduction Grant, and many more.
Municipalities Enabling Reuse
At the local level, municipal funding plays a critical role in community adoption, aiding small businesses’ transitions to reuse, and closing equity gaps.
In Canada, Toronto demonstrated this approach through its Circular Food Innovators Fund. Launched in 2024, CFIF supports local businesses to deliver projects that will help build a more circular food system. This fund has supported Circulr, a reusable packaging service provider, with $23,400 to upgrade its automated reverse vending machine return technology. In the same funding cycle, the city also awarded ChocoSol Traders with $28,279, to shift to a rewards-based reusable cup program and improve their customer adoption rate. This program expanded their active cup fleet from 100 to 680 reusable cups, preventing hundreds of single-use cups from entering landfills each month. The CFIF has awarded funds to more small businesses in their 2026/2027 grant cycle, with the focus of eliminating single-use foodware and developing a green workforce throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
Meanwhile, in Boulder County, Colorado public dollars are driving an equitable transition to zero waste though its Circular Economy Funding. Through a $50,000 award to the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Boulder County, this local nonprofit was able to address critical gaps facing minority-owned small businesses in meeting the County’s zero waste goals. This program paired bilingual workshops and personalized consulting with direct microgrants to purchase reusable foodware and composting infrastructure. This comprehensive support made it easier for food vendors to embrace reusables, ensuring the County’s zero waste efforts are both economical and inclusive.
In Hennepin County, Minnesota, the government is spearheading waste reduction efforts through a variety of funding opportunities, one of which is the Waste Prevention Grant for the business sector. Through this grant program, $20,000 has been awarded to r.World to directly subsidize the rollout of reusable cup systems at venues, events, and businesses across the county. This municipality also provides rebates to small businesses to purchase durable reusable containers and reduce the amount of single-use plastic that ends up in the County’s landfill.
In Bend, Oregon a blended funding model shows how public and private agencies can pool resources to build shared reuse infrastructure. The nonprofit Central Oregon Environmental Center stacked three distinct public funding streams, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Visit Bend (a local tourism agency), and the City of Bend, to develop a central wash facility for local food cart lots. “The Dish” program has received $240,000 in total funding and is estimated to eliminate 250,000 single-use items from the landfill each year. Funds will support expanding wash hub access to dozens of food vendors, as well as community outreach to boost container return rates.
Funding does not have to be in the hundreds, or even tens of thousands, of dollars to have an impact. Municipal rebates and microgrants for reusable foodware and commercial dishwashing have been critical levers for enabling reuse. Examples include Austin’s Zero Waste Business Rebate, DC’s Ditch Disposables grant, Boulder County’s PACE Rebates, Seattle’s Reuse Incentive, and Minnesota's MNimize rebate program. San Francisco’s Business Dishwasher grant and previously, the Commercial Dishwasher Grant for California public schools, are great examples of grants specifically aimed at dishwashing infrastructure. These smaller grants help finance upfront capital expenditures so businesses and schools can make the permanent switch to reusables, immediately reducing waste and in the long term, saving on operational costs.
What’s missing is not proof of concept. What’s missing is capital.
Funding is one of the largest gaps in the reuse movement, which is why it is so important to highlight when public funding gets it right. From microgrants to the rare multimillion-dollar federal awards, these real-world examples show what is possible when governments step up and invest in reuse. Even in communities with state preemption laws or political hurdles that prevent local policy from regulating foodware, government funding can serve as a valuable tool to still enable reuse.
Beyond reducing waste, targeted public grants lower costs for small businesses, strengthen local green workforces, and de-risk the transition to reusables.
Of course, public grants are just one part of the broader funding landscape that includes private investment, impact lending, and green financing. To discover active funding opportunities in the U.S. and Canada, explore our Reuse Funding Tracker.
