16 groups to receive pollution prevention grants

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The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I), striving to continue improving the health and environmental quality of New York state, has announced the recipients of its 2014-2015 Community Grants Program.

NYSP2I is funding proposals from 16 organizations statewide following the completion of a competitive review process. The Community Grants Program provides nonprofit organizations and local governments financial and technical assistance for projects that promote and implement pollution-prevention practices at the local level.

“Once again we have been impressed with the volume and quality of the community grant applications,” said Anahita Williamson, NYSP2I’s director. “The projects that were funded represent a large cross section of New York state, both in geography and project scope. It is a strong testament to our state that there is such a great interest in addressing environmental challenges and advancing New York toward a more sustainable future.”

The winning proposals include:

• The Hospitality Green Water Challenge: The New York State Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, based in Albany, will focus on reducing water usage in New York’s hospitality industry.
• Governors Island Learning Garden: GrowNYC, a hands-on nonprofit improving New York City’s quality of life through a wide variety of environmental programs, will create a green infrastructure education demonstration site where community gardeners and community members will learn how to prevent pollution in their communities.
• Helping New York State Schools Buy More Green Products: Albany-based Healthy Schools Network Inc. will raise awareness and promote behavioral changes that result in more purchasing of nontoxic products and better practices in both schools and homes throughout New York state.
• Hamilton County Green Infrastructure: The Hamilton County Soil & Water Conservation District in Lake Pleasant will implement bioswales—landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water—rain gardens and rain barrel systems on town property as a public learning tool.
• Human Impacts Stories Project: The Human Impacts Institute of Brooklyn will begin a series of community trainings and focus groups that will culminate with the creation of an outdoor educational exhibit on pollution issues and solutions for North Brooklyn.
• Engineers for a Sustainable World Biodiesel Project: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy has designed a project aiming to promote the use of biodiesel throughout the region by building partnerships with communities and school districts.
• Rain Gardens for Youth Empowerment and Pollution Prevention: The University of Rochester project will employ the installation of a rain garden to teach young students about the environment.
• Reduce Rain Runoff: Sustainable Long Island, based in Farmingdale, will implement a program to capture and manage rainwater and storm water as well as implement conservation practices and educate the community about carefully using water.
• Pollution Prevention in the Child Care Setting: Albany-based Clean & Healthy New York will further expand its efforts to educate child-care providers in Albany, Columbia, Greene, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren and Washington counties about implementing pollution-prevention strategies.
• Healthy Homes, Healthy Families: The Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning in Rochester will fund the production and distribution of a 32-page resource guide on the dangers of childhood lead poisoning.
• Increasing Paint Diversion in New York State by Improving Existing and Establishing New Paint Reuse Programs: The New York Product Stewardship Council in Albany plans to reduce the amount of leftover paint sent to landfills by increasing opportunities for reuse.
• Cooking up a Food Waste Prevention: The Ithaca-based Tompkins County: Save the Food campaign and project will reduce residential food waste before it is generated.
• Expanding ReUse Infrastructure in NYS Communities: Finger Lakes ReUse Inc. in Ithaca will provide technical assistance to New York state communities that aim to develop and launch their own reuse operations.
• Community Compost Collection: United Communities Centers Inc.’s East New York Farms project will support composting education and outreach and culminate in a Community Compost Challenge with Brooklyn-area youths.
• Inspiring Green Storm Water: The Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper project is an outreach and education effort to homeowners and property owners about immediate cost-efficient actions that can be taken to combat storm water and sewage pollution threats.
• Scholastic Aquatic Partnership: Delta Laboratories Inc. in Rochester will provide eighth-grade students with hands-on water-quality testing experience as a method to educate them about pollution prevention.

To date, NYSP2I’s Community Grants Program has supported 65 projects throughout New York state with grants totaling more than $850,000. A request for applications is typically announced in the fall.

The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute is a partnership between the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), University at Buffalo and Clarkson University, with a statewide reach. NYSP2I’s goal is to make the state more sustainable for workers, the public, the environment and the economy through pollution prevention. Pollution prevention is reducing or eliminating waste at the source by modifying production processes, promoting the use of non-toxic or less-toxic substances, implementing conservation techniques, and reusing materials rather than putting them into the waste stream.