Providence, Rhode Island, updates recycling, organics with $3.6M in grants

Cole Rosengren | WasteDrive • April 29, 2026

A combination of EPA and USDA funding has resulted in numerous changes throughout the city, including free commercial recycling service, residential recycling carts and organics infrastructure.


Providence, Rhode Island, is starting to see tangible results from multiple organics and recycling programs funded by federal grants.

This work was spurred by $3.34 million from the U.S. EPA’s Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant program awarded in 2023, as well as $255,850 from a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant awarded in 2024. Now, multiple years in, the city has funded new vehicles, carts and other infrastructure.


Back in November 2023, Mayor Brett Smiley described the EPA funding as a big opportunity to advance sustainability efforts.


“By helping divert food waste, in particular, from the waste stream we can extend the life of our Central Landfill, but also help meet our climate justice goals,” he said at a November 2023 Northeast Recycling Council event. Smiley noted this would also help address recycling issues.


“We know that we’ve got a major education gap to fill with residents and business owners. The recycling rates in the city of Providence are quite low [and] there’s a very clear equity gap in terms of which neighborhoods recycle and how.”


Commercial recycling

One unique aspect of Providence’s grant-funded programs is free commercial recycling service, which is still coming to fruition.

In his NERC speech, Mayor Smiley noted this idea was driven in part by “a problem with overflowing dumpsters” that “degrades the quality of life” in certain commercial areas with a lot of restaurants.


The SWIFR grant, which has funding until January 2027, helped fund the purchase of a rearload recycling collection truck for approximately $200,000. This truck is run by the city’s Department of Public Works and initially focused on offering free service in two neighborhoods.


Federal Hill and the West End were chosen for their high density and proliferation of restaurants. Participants can receive two to three carts, which will be collected twice per week. The Center for EcoTechnology is helping manage the outreach and technical assistance for this as well as a separate technical assistance program for commercial organics.


Kevin Proft, Providence’s deputy director of sustainability, said in a recent interview there was a long lead time to procure the truck and progress has been slower than hoped. The city’s goal was to recruit up to 75 businesses, but so far about 10 had signed on as of early April. This is yielding an estimated half a ton to 1 ton per week.


“Surprisingly, we haven’t been able to get businesses to jump at the opportunity as easily as we thought we would,” said Proft, adding the pitch is “it could potentially reduce your hauling costs by reducing the amount of waste in your dumpster.”


Lorenzo Macaluso, chief growth officer for CET, said his team is working to create testimonials of participating businesses and plans to continue expanding outreach. The city is also looking at potentially expanding the program to include other neighborhoods.


“Sometimes selling a free thing is harder than you think ... what we find is decision makers often need to hear things more than once,” he said. Macaluso also noted some businesses may feel recycling creates extra work, even when technical assistance is available to help with bin setup and signage.


“So we’re trying to compress that learning curve as much as possible and give them those tools, but that perception is hard to overcome.”


Residential recycling

Providence has an estimated 2.4% recycling rate and 47% contamination rate, despite prior goals to reach 30% by 2020 as well as “eliminate contaminated recycling” by 2030.


The city recently began rolling out 55,000 new curbside recycling carts, along with an updated citywide education campaign, in an effort to reverse these trends.


This came together with $1.8 million of EPA SWIFR funding, $625,000 from The Recycling Partnership and $5 million in financing from Closed Loop Partners’ Catalytic Capital & Private Credit Group. That latter commitment was backed by American Beverage’s Every Bottle Back initiative.


The carts align with a new curbside collection contract awarded to WM last summer. That contract included an amendment stipulating the company pay $50,000 for recycling education in the first year and offer services at that value in the following years. A WM spokesperson confirmed that education funding is managed by the city. 


Another new aspect of this contract was the inclusion of WM’s Smart Truck camera technology in collection vehicles. This allows for targeted contamination monitoring and education feedback.


Keefe Harrison, CEO of The Recycling Partnership, said during a recent interview this would allow for more targeted education efforts and reduce some of the need for manual cart checks or tagging.


“We will be able to use cameras in the trucks to identify households that are doing a great job recycling versus the ones that are having a harder time, and then target those ‘oops’ tags for the ones that are having the harder time.”


WM confirmed this is the first deployment of its technology in New England, following prior launches in other parts of the country. Proft said data reliability has been inconsistent for certain routes, but was optimistic about its long-term potential.


“The sensors are a little bit sensitive and they’ve been breaking ... there seems to be a myriad reasons that we’re struggling to really get that running smoothly,” he said, while noting that “even the data we’re getting now is useful based on the capacity.”


“WM is happy to be deploying this new technology in the City of Providence. With any new program there will be an implementation period, but we are pleased with the process so far and are excited about its future,” said Garrett Trierweiler, a regional director of public affairs for WM, via email.


Organics

In 2019, the city set a goal to “eliminate food waste” by 2040. The recent federal funding has been used to help boost processing infrastructure, collection and education.


Providence dedicated approximately $200,000 of SWIFR funding to support Groundwork Rhode Island’s West End Compost Hub. The site, an in-vessel composting project, is currently under construction and could open later this summer, according to Groundwork. 


USDA funding also helped cover five new organics drop-off sites managed by Groundwork, raising its total network to 16 sites.

On the commercial side, SWIFR funding helped purchase two trucks for Remix Organics, a hauler in the city. This included a unique vacuum truck to collect brewery wastewater, which had become a concern for state regulators due to how it was previously managed.


“They had more more customers asking for their service than they could service,” said Proft, describing this as an opportunity to “help our local economy by supporting this local business and also diverting more food waste from the landfill through these big chunks of commercial businesses.”


Additionally, USDA funding covered a contract for CET to conduct outreach and education to businesses about organics recycling. This helped line up customers with vendors such as Remix and start collection service at a notable new location, the Rhode Island Convention Center.


Other areas covered by the USDA grant included education that led an estimated 350 new households to participate in subscription pickups or free dropoff sites, as well as mentorship for setting up backyard composting at about 60 households. The grant also helped the Rhode Island School Recycling project set up food recovery and organics recycling at multiple elementary schools.


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New program prepares the next generation of recycling professionals

By Recycling Product News • October 14, 2026
The Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) and the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) have launched a new pilot initiative to train the next generation of recycling professionals: the Sustainable Materials Careers Program (SMCP). Take a look inside the Sustainable Materials Careers Program Building on the success of NERC's Emerging Professionals Program, which offers new professionals exposure to sustainable materials management (SMM), mentorship, and career guidance, SMCP will focus on college students — with the potential to engage high school students in the future. The program will give students a deeper understanding of career opportunities in SMM and provide hands-on pathways from the classroom to the workplace. Through Career Exploration events and professional development training, students will gain industry exposure, build foundational knowledge, and chart a clear path toward careers in sustainable materials. Career Exploration events will be part of ReMA's Recycling Jobs Day initiative, a national program connecting students with careers in the recycled materials industry. Event activities will include tours of material recovery, recycling, and/or manufacturing facilities, as well as panels highlighting diverse career pathways in the sector. "Many students want to work in sustainability, but they rarely see the diverse career paths available across the materials lifecycle," said Megan Schulz-Fontes, executive director of NERC. "By combining hands-on facility tours with foundational training, this program opens doors across every corner of the industry — including state and municipal governance, equipment and technology manufacturers, recycling infrastructure, and corporate sustainability teams — ensuring the next generation is equipped to lead." Growth in sustainability has increased the number of professionals needed to run the industry The material economy accounts for over 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA. Recycling and composting in the United States prevent the release of roughly 186 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the air each year — an impact equal to taking over 39 million gasoline-powered cars off the road annually. Compared to the processing and transportation needed for mining, drilling, harvesting, or other methods of extracting natural resources for manufacturing, the use of recycled materials typically produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Global demand for green jobs is growing at 8 percent per year. Yet, LinkedIn's Global Green Skills Report highlights a shortage of qualified talent, with many roles unfilled due to limited training and a lack of mixed skills, as noted by the Institute of Sustainability Studies. SMCP addresses these gaps by increasing awareness of sustainable materials careers and offering free training to participating students. In the 2026-2027 academic year, NERC plans to hold six Career Exploration events and provide enrollment in its Foundations of Sustainable Materials and Recycling course at no cost to students from participating Academic Partners. Current Academic Partners include MIT Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Rowan University Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Institute, University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of New Hampshire Sustainability Institute, University of Southern Maine, and Yale. Read on Recycling Product News.

Northeast Recycling Council and ReMA Launch Sustainable Materials Careers Program

By Waste Advantage • October 9, 2026
In partnership, Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) and Recycled Materials Association (ReMA), announce the launch of a new pilot initiative: the Sustainable Materials Careers Program (SMCP). Building on the success of NERC’s Emerging Professionals Program, which offers new professionals exposure to sustainable materials management (SMM), mentorship, and career guidance, SMCP will focus on college students – with the potential to engage high school students in the future. The program will give students a deeper understanding of career opportunities in SMM and provide hands-on pathways from the classroom to the workplace. Through Career Exploration events and professional development training, students will gain industry exposure, build foundational knowledge, and chart a clear path toward careers in sustainable materials. Career Exploration events will be part of ReMA’s Recycling Jobs Day initiative, a national program connecting students with careers in the recycled materials industry. Event activities will include tours of material recovery, recycling, and/or manufacturing facilities, as well as panels highlighting diverse career pathways in the sector. “Many students want to work in sustainability, but they rarely see the diverse career paths available across the materials lifecycle,” said Megan Schulz-Fontes, Executive Director of NERC. “By combining hands-on facility tours with foundational training, this program opens doors across every corner of the industry—including state and municipal governance, equipment and technology manufacturers, recycling infrastructure, and corporate sustainability teams—ensuring the next generation is equipped to lead.” The material economy accounts for over 40% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA. Recycling and composting in the United States prevent the release of roughly 186 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the air each year—an impact equal to taking over 39 million gasoline-powered cars off the road annually. Compared to the processing and transportation needed for mining, drilling, harvesting, or other methods of extracting natural resources for manufacturing, the use of recycled materials typically produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Global demand for green jobs is growing at 8% per year. Yet, LinkedIn’s Global Green Skills Report highlights a shortage of qualified talent, with many roles unfilled due to limited training and a lack of mixed skills, as noted by the Institute of Sustainability Studies. SMCP addresses these gaps by increasing awareness of sustainable materials careers and offering free training to participating students. In the 2026-2027 academic year, NERC plans to hold six Career Exploration events and provide enrollment in its Foundations of Sustainable Materials and Recycling course at no cost to students from participating Academic Partners. Current Academic Partners include MIT Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Rowan University Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Institute, University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of New Hampshire Sustainability Institute, University of Southern Maine, and Yale Office of Sustainability. NERC invites forward-thinking businesses and organizations to support and expand the Northeast Sustainable Materials Careers Program. By becoming a Program Partner, sponsors directly enable more students to access free training and hands-on industry exposure—building a strong, qualified pipeline for the future circular economy workforce. Read on Waste Advantage.

Ramping up reuse of construction materials

By Brian Clark Howard | Resource Recycling • October 8, 2026
The construction and demolition industries send a massive volume of materials to landfills, but reuse can make a big difference, panelists said at the Northeast Recycling Council’s (NERC) Annual Rethink Resource Use Conference in Plainsboro, New Jersey on Wednesday. In New York City, 60% of the total waste stream is construction and demolition (C&D) waste, said Kelly Tigera, the founder and CEO of Orbit , an online marketplace for reclaimed construction materials launched in 2005 in the Big Apple. In the US overall, C&D waste has been estimated at 23% of the total waste stream . According to the EPA , 600 million tons of C&D debris were generated in the United States in 2018, which was more than twice the amount of generated municipal solid waste. Just over 455 million tons of C&D debris were directed to next use (primarily as aggregate); the rest went to landfills. Construction is “one of the most wasteful industries,” said panelist Andrew Sigal, a market manager at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). “Within that 145 million tons lies a significant opportunity to really decrease waste and direct more material towards its highest and best use.” At New York construction sites, 10% to 15% of all new materials are thrown away unused, said Tigera. So reuse has the potential to draw from brand new stock as well as used materials. And reuse can help address supply chain and affordability concerns; construction material costs have increased 43% since February 2020, said Tigera. “In terms of value for users, we can provide access to free and low-cost materials,” said Tigera. “We can provide tax write-offs for donated materials, and we also help sellers save on hauling and dumping costs.” From panels to seats Tigera gave a few examples of recent salvage efforts that have leveraged her marketplace. Deconstruction contractor CO Adaptive recovered wood panels from an auditorium at Hunter Brookdale School of Nursing. The panels ended up in four different sites around Brooklyn. Auditorium seats were donated to SoHo Playhouse. In another project, Orbit worked with the city’s Port Authority to salvage historic bricks from retaining walls in Lincoln Tunnel. Orbit is also working with the agency to design a reuse plan for a bus terminal that is scheduled to come down in a few years. New York City also has a new initiative called the Circular Construction Hub, which is going to be a reuse center for contractors where they can drop off material. Orbit is the online marketplace for that project, said Tigera. She added that some of the most popular materials on her platform have been doors, shelving, cabinets and acoustic panels. In addition to traditional contractors, buyers include the film industry (for building sets) and the events industry. A lot of reuse work is already happening around the city and country, “we’re just helping it scale,” said Tigera. Yarden Jarari, an architect and sustainability adviser at Arcadis , a design and engineering firm, said her recent research suggests the value of pilot projects when it comes to reuse in the C&D space. “You can have pilot projects that are not going to totally overwhelm someone trying something new,” she said. “And also iterate over time with a lot of long-term relationships where you have repeat partners, repeat teams, and have that opportunity to build and bite off more and more rather than trying to do everything at once.” Jarari added that she would like to see “ways that we can start to measure outbound materials that are coming out of a space the same way that we’re thinking about what’s going into a space.” Having that data could make it easier to drive reuse, she said. Sigal said certification systems, like those offered from the USGBC, can incentivize reuse. The organization’s True certification for zero waste (with Green Business Certification Inc.) has a particular focus on reuse, he noted. As a case study, Sigal mentioned 270 Park Ave. in midtown Manhattan. The 60-story headquarters of JPMorganChase opened in October 2025 as a LEED platinum project. The previous building at the site, the former headquarters for Union Carbide, was deconstructed, with 97% of its materials reused or recycled. Evolving mindset The panelists agreed that the mindset in the C&D industry is starting to tilt toward reuse, spurred by environmental and cost concerns. “Our thesis has been if we can provide demand and show that there’s demand for these materials, everything else will wind up behind it,” said Tigera. She added that government procurement can help drive more reuse in the industry. Tigera also pointed out that salvaged materials are often routed through resellers, who clean and organize them, making purchasing of used goods as easy as buying new. Sigal added that he would like to see more policy support for C&D reuse. In New York, several bills have been introduced that would bolster reporting and encourage reuse. “Building reuse saves carbon, but also saves resources from having to be extracted, harvested, manufactured and installed,” said Sigal. “Not to mention the end-of-life considerations there.” Read on Resource Recycling.