SWACO announced today that it is awarding more than $250,000 in grants to 12 local community partners, a significant increase over recent years. SWACO’s Community Waste Reduction (CWR) grant program awards competitive grants each year for innovative projects that significantly reduce waste or increase the diversion of waste from the Franklin County Landfill. The recipients are local governments and nonprofits, schools, hospitals, and churches, and SWACO prioritizes applications with an emphasis on partnership and collaboration.
The projects funded by this year’s CWR grants prioritize waste reduction and reuse, including a new donation incentive program from Goodwill Columbus that will reward residents for donating their unwanted items to Goodwill instead of sending them to the landfill, programing at two Franklin County middle schools to teach the students about our waste stream and learn about how recycling and composting programs could be integrated with curriculum, and support for a program that accepts donations of used sports and playground equipment and makes it available to under-resourced schools and youth groups.
“Reducing the amount waste coming into the landfill is one of our core missions, and it takes a community-wide effort,” said SWACO Executive Director, Joe Lombardi. “The Community Waste Reduction grant program helps fund an amazing array of innovative programs across the county that benefit our residents and help prolong the life of the landfill, and we’re thrilled to be able to fund so many of them this year.”
Successful Community Waste Reduction grant applications emphasize partnership-building and collaboration, and leverage the waste stream for community and economic benefit. They must be within SWACO’s jurisdiction of Franklin County, and the grant recipients are required to document the project’s impact. Grants are available for amounts ranging from $500 to $35,000, and recipients must provide a 20% cash match.
“The Worthington Partnership is excited to have this opportunity to implement reuse projects at the Worthington Farmers Market and in Downtown Worthington,” said Dan Barash of the Worthington Partnership Green Team. “One key focus of this initiative is expanding the network of coffee shops participating in a borrow-based reusable cup program that was originally launched by our colleagues at the Central Ohio Reuse Coalition. Using software and stainless steel cups from Okapi Reusables, this program enables customers to borrow and return reusable cups at any shop in the network, while tracking their personal reuse impact over time.”
In 2024, SWACO awarded more than $113,000 in CWR grants to five local governments and other nonprofit organizations for initiatives to divert waste material from the landfill. The cities of Dublin and Gahanna used their funding last year to add recycling containers to city parks, ECDI started a composting program for the kitchens using its Food Fort facilities, Hilliard City Schools is funding a district-wide waste reduction study and strategic plan, and Ohio Dominican University is using it’s funding to implement a campus-wide single-stream recycling program.
Applications for 2026 CWR grants will be accepted beginning in May of 2025. To learn more about the CWR grant program, including eligibility, deadlines, and video statements from past grantees, visit SWACO.org/CommunityGrants. A full list of this year’s Community Waste Reduction grant recipients is below.
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2025 SWACO Community Waste Reduction Grant Recipients
| Recipient Name | Grant Amount | Short Description of Project |
|---|---|---|
| City of Dublin | $34,305 | Adding 13 combined trash and recycling receptacles at the Dublin Community Recreation Center. |
| City of Groveport | $35,000 | Installing recycling and landfill receptables at five downtown area parks. |
| Erase the Space | $10,225 | Piloting an experiential learning project at two area middle schools with hands-on, student-led projects to improve recycling at the schools and their communities. |
| Franklin County Public Health | $4,800 | Creating a permanent food waste drop-off site at Franklin County’s Memorial Hall with a goal of diverting 5,000 pounds of food waste from the landfill in the first year. |
| Goodwill Columbus | $35,000 | Beginning a donation incentive program to encourage residents to donate unwanted items rather than throwing them away. |
| Greater Columbus Convention Center | $35,000 | Adding a second food waste compactor to increase the amount of waste that is currently being diverted to composting from 34% to 50%. |
| Grove City United Methodist Church | $9,828 | Adding recycling collection points to high-use locations in the facility with a goal of incorporating food waste diversion next year. |
| Leveling The Playing Field | $35,000 | Supporting the purchase of a van to collect more donated sports equipment and eliminate the cost of renting a vehicle. |
| Otterbein University | $12,758 | Adding recycling and landfill collection stations in public areas of the Otterbein campus and in kitchens as well as supporting the addition of an educational display and strategic recycling plan. |
| Village of Lockbourne | $13,837 | Installing recycling and landfill stations through the village, including at village facilities and in three parks. |
| Worthington Partership | $21,850 | Promoting incentives to reduce single-use containers at the Worthington Farmers’ Market and piloting a new reuseable coffee cup program at several area coffee shops. |
| Worthington Resource Pantry | $9,040 | Purchasing an electric pallet stacker to significantly increase capacity to accept fresh food rejected from local grocery stores. |
| 2025 CWR Grant Total | $256,643 |
