(a)The department shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature, administer a grant program to provide financial assistance to promote in-state development of infrastructure, food waste prevention, or other projects to reduce organic waste, sort and aggregate or process organic and other recyclable materials into new, value-added products, or divert items from disposal through enhanced reuse opportunities. Moneys appropriated by the Legislature from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created pursuant to Section 16428.8 of the Government Code, to the department shall be expended consistent with the requirements of Article 9.7 (commencing with Section 16428.8) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code and Chapter 4.1 (commencing with Section 39710) of Part 2 of D
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(a)
The department shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature, administer a grant program to provide financial assistance to promote in-state development of infrastructure, food waste prevention, or other projects to reduce organic waste, sort and aggregate or process organic and other recyclable materials into new, value-added products, or divert items from disposal through enhanced reuse opportunities. Moneys appropriated by the Legislature from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created pursuant to Section 16428.8 of the Government Code, to the department shall be expended consistent with the requirements of Article 9.7 (commencing with Section 16428.8) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code and Chapter 4.1 (commencing with Section 39710) of Part 2 of Division 26 of the Health and Safety
Code.
(b)
Eligible financial assistance shall be provided for any of the following:
(1)
Organics composting.
(2)
Organics in-vessel digestion.
(3)
Recyclable material manufacturing.
(4)
Activities that expand and improve organic waste diversion and recycling, including, but not limited to, the recovery of food for human consumption and food waste prevention.
(5)
Preprocessing organic materials for composting or organics in-vessel digestion.
(6)
Codigestion at existing wastewater treatment plants.
(7)
Increasing opportunities for reuse of materials diverted from landfill disposal.
(8)
Recyclable material recovery, sorting, or baling equipment for use at publicly owned facilities. Eligibility for funding under this paragraph is limited to local jurisdictions.
(c)
For purposes of this section, eligible infrastructure projects include, but are not limited to, any of the following:
(1)
Capital investments in new facilities and increased throughput at existing facilities for activities, such as converting windrow composting to aerated-static-pile composting to use food waste as feedstock.
(2)
Designing and constructing organics in-vessel digestion facilities to produce products, such as biofuels to be used or distributed onsite,
bioenergy, and soil amendments.
(3)
Designing and constructing or expanding facilities for processing recyclable materials.
(4)
Projects to improve the quality of recycled materials.
(5)
Projects undertaken by a local government at publicly owned facilities to improve the recovery, sorting, or baling of recyclable materials to get those materials into the marketplace, including related equipment purchasing and installation costs.
(6)
Purchase of equipment and construction of facilities to help develop, implement, or expand edible food waste recovery operations.
(7)
Establishment of reuse programs to divert items from landfill disposal for reuse by members of the public.
(8)
Deployment of bear bins to minimize adverse human-and-bear interactions related to the collection and management of solid and organic waste. Any funding provided pursuant to this paragraph shall be limited to those areas where there are significant public safety issues associated with food waste collection as a result of local bear populations, as corroborated by information from local, state, or federal public safety or wildlife officials, and shall be limited to the primary residence for those residents earning below the area median household income limit established by the Department of Housing and Community Development pursuant to Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.
(d)
In awarding a grant for organics composting or organics in-vessel digestion pursuant to this section, the department shall consider all of the following:
(1)
The amount of reductions of emissions of greenhouse gases that may result from the project.
(2)
The amount of organic material that may be diverted from landfills as a result of the project.
(3)
If and how the project may benefit disadvantaged or low-income communities, as defined in Section 39713 of the Health and Safety Code.
(4)
For a grant awarded for an organics in-vessel digestion project, if and how the project maximizes resource recovery, including the production of clean energy or low-carbon or carbon negative transportation fuels.
(5)
Project readiness and permitting that the project may require.
(6)
Air and water
quality benefits that the project may provide.
(e)
To the degree that funds are available, the department may provide larger grant awards for large-scale regional integrated projects that provide cost-effective organic waste diversion and maximize environmental benefits.