In its ongoing work to reduce waste, the Wake County Division of Solid Waste Management has awarded four local organizations with grant funding through the Waste Prevention Grant Program. The program provides financial assistance to businesses, educational organizations and nonprofits based in Wake County to support projects that help divert waste from landfills.
“Past recipients of this grant have developed innovative services and products that have been instrumental in our goal to reduce pollution and waste in our county," said Wake County Commissioner Shinica Thomas. "We're very excited to see the impact the projects from this year's group will have on the county's environment and other residents.”
Grants range in value from $1,000 to $10,000 and must be used to create projects that encourage activities such as reducing waste, increasing recycling, reusing durable goods and composting. Selected projects must have a measurable impact and be completed within 12 months, though extensions may be granted.
This year's grant recipients and projects include:
- Holly Springs High School received $4,000 for its Composting Club to expand the collection and composting of organic waste.
- Partners for Environmental Justice was awarded $10,000 to build a composting system to serve the Crosslink Community Garden and surrounding community in southeast Raleigh.
- New Hope Baptist Church in Raleigh will use $10,000 to install bottle-filling fountains to replace single-use bottled water consumption by the church and its community partners.
- Toward Zero Waste was awarded $10,000 to expand the food recovery program SHARE (Stop Hunger and Restore Earth) to 10 additional public schools in Wake County.
Last year, the County created video interviews with the 2024–25 grant recipients, including the Wakefield High School DECA club's composting program, MyMatR's artificial intelligence-enabled trash-and-recycling-sorting receptacle and El Centro Hispano's workplace recycling program and Spanish-language recycling campaign.
The County will begin accepting applications for grants from interested organizations for the 2026–27 fiscal year in the fall.
For more information on this Wake County program, visit our Waste Prevention Grant webpage.
