The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) says it is now accepting applications for fiscal year 2023 Recycling and Illegal Dumping (RAID) Fund grants for scrap tire management, illegal dumpsite abatement, recycling and composting projects.

Municipalities, counties, solid waste authorities, cooperative associations (as defined in the RAID Act), land grant communities, pueblos, tribes, and nations are eligible for funds totaling $800,000. For this funding cycle, the application review panel, known as the RAID Alliance, will prioritize projects that em-phasize diversion of materials from landfills.

Two-thirds of the funding is available for end-of-life tire projects and one-third is available for other eligi-ble projects. NMED encourages applications that include matching funds or in-kind contributions, but this is not required for eligibility.

Grant funding may be spent to offset the cost of scrap tire collection and recycling, establish and improve recycling facilities, purchase equipment, develop and implement marketing and educational outreach campaigns, purchase products produced by a recycling facility using materials from New Mexico, develop recycling and composting infrastructure, and abate illegal dumpsites.

A list of previously funded projects is available for review on the NMED website. From fiscal year 2007 to fiscal year 2022, NMED awarded over $11.2 million dollars for 351 projects and helped to abate over 171 illegal dumpsites throughout the state.

To learn more about available grants, please proceed to NMED website.