Community Grants

To make our communities cleaner and greener places to live, we want to support programs that encourage waste reduction, recycling and cleaning up our neighborhoods. Each January, we offer grants to help financially support these types of programs. Please review each grant to see if your entity is eligible to apply.

A community workshop will be held on Thursday, December 12, 2024 to explain all the grants we offer, in detail. Interested applicants were able to attend in person at our main office in Warren, or via Microsoft Teams.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE WORKSHOP

10:00 AM – Session 1 – Go Green Grants

10:45 AM – Session 2 – Drop-off Improvement Grants

11:30 AM – Session 3 – Scrap Tire Grants

Feel free to attend only the sessions you are interested in. There will be breaks between sessions to allow for attendees to leave or enter. 

The workshop will be recorded and posted on our YouTube page. The links below will be updated after the workshop. Please watch the videos for more information about all of our grant opportunities when available. 

Download the workshop flyer

Last year’s workshop – 2024 Go Green & Drop-off Improvement Grant session

Last year’s workshop – 2024 Scrap Tire Grant session

These grants are offered to local government (townships, cities, villages, counties), schools, and nonprofit organizations to initiate or expand recycling, to purchase recycling or waste containers, to purchase items made from recycled content materials, to perform cleanup activities, or to conduct an approved demonstration project.  Grants will have a maximum award amount of $3,500 per application.  All organizations will be limited to one application per year.  Pre-approved purchases will be reimbursed by the district at completion of project.

Apply for a 2025 Go Green Grant online

Download the 2025 Go Green Grant application

Instructions for 2025 Go Green Community Grant

All Go Green Grant awardees will have until June 30, 2026 to complete their project and submit reimbursement paperwork. This will allow more school districts to complete projects during their normal school year. 

Examples of potential projects for cities/townships/villages (not all-inclusive):
• Trash disposal costs for illegal dumpsite cleanup.
• Educational materials/signage to increase and improve recycling.
• Event costs (including trash disposal) for community recycling/cleanups – *must be in conjunction with an electronics collection.
• Electronic transportation and disposal costs for community electronics collection -*You may use grant funds to pay for box truck rental costs.
• Recycling containers for city hall, township buildings, parks, etc.
• Litter cleanup supplies – litter grabbers, vests, etc.
• Community paper shredding event

Examples for potential projects for schools (not all-inclusive):
• Recycling bins/containers for classrooms and offices
• Carts or flatbed/platform trucks to transport collected materials from classrooms to dumpster outside
• Educational materials/signage to increase and improve recycling
• Landscaping or fencing to beautify recycling dumpster area on campus
• Supplies to start a school composting program
• Field trips/school educational assemblies – i.e., field trip to landfill, field trip to materials recovery facility (recycling processing center), guest speaker for school assembly
• School-generated recycling and/or litter prevention projects in which learners engage in hands-on activities and become actively involved in recycling and/or sustainability project
• School professional development – cost to train teachers in various recycling/litter prevention programs or to conduct other related education workshops or in-services

If you have an idea for a project that is not on this list, please CALL to discuss. We are open to new, innovative ideas!

Funding is competitive. Requests may exceed funding, so there is no guarantee your application will be  awarded. All applications must be received in the District office by Friday, January 31, 2025.

The Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste District offers over 40 locations for residents to bring their bottles, jugs, jars, cans, and cardboard for recycling. The District partners with local governments, schools, and other entities to provide that service to the community. We know maintaining a recycling drop-off location can be challenging, and we want to help.

We are accepting applications for site improvement funds for your local recycling drop-off site. These grants are offered to local governments (townships, villages, cities and counties), schools and other entities that provide District drop-off recycling site locations.

Apply for 2025 Drop-off Improvement Grant (DIG) online

Download the 2025 Drop-off Improvement Grant (DIG) application

Instructions for 2025 DIG application

All Drop-off Improvement Grant awardees will have until June 30, 2026 to complete their project and submit reimbursement paperwork. 

How much funding can applicants receive?

Applicants can receive up to $15,000 for improvements at their recycling site.

How much funding do applicants have to contribute?

Assistance requires a minimum 10% match from the entity hosting the site.

Examples of potential projects (not all-inclusive):

  • Gravel
  • Concrete pad repair/replacement
  • Fencing
  • Additional lighting
  • Security cameras to prevent illegal dumping
  • Signage
  • Gates
  • Parking lot resurfacing
  • Drainage improvement upgrades

 

Funding is competitive. Requests may exceed funding, so there is no guarantee your application will be  awarded. All applications must be received in the District office by Friday, January 31, 2025.

Old, unusable scrap tires can be a blight on community roads, ditches and abandoned property. 

To assist communities in the prevention of illegal dumping of tires, we offer funding to every city, township, and village within the District to host scrap tire collections for their residents. 

Each individual community decides the details of their collections, including date(s), number and types of tires collected, etc. The communities provide us with the details of their proposed collection for the calendar year. We will post a list of all the community tire collections on this page once the list has been compiled, usually sometime in March.  

Contact your community leadership (i.e. trustees, council members) to provide input for how your community will collect tires this year. 

For city, township, and village governments ONLY:

Apply for 2025 Scrap Tire Grant online

Download the 2025 Scrap Tire Grant application

Funding is guaranteed up to the amount budgeted for your community. Scrap Tire Grant applications must be received via email to jenn@startrecycling.com or mail to the District office at 5138 Enterprise Dr., Warren, OH 44481 by Friday, February 28, 2025.


For residents:

Miss your community’s tire collection??

If you are a resident who has missed your local scrap tire collection, most legitimate tire sales stores will accept scrap tires, for a small fee per tire. You can call around to tire stores in your area to see if they will accept your scrap tires, and find out what they will charge. 

Recycling and/or disposing of scrap tires responsibly is expensive. Other than the community collections offered as a free service to residents, ALL tire vendors will charge to dispose of your scrap tires. Avoid the trouble of disposing of scrap tires later by paying for their disposal when you purchase new tires.  


Ohio EPA “No Fault” Program

The Ohio EPA offers assistance in removing 100 or more tires either illegally dumped on public/private property or local roadsides, or on property inherited by someone having no role in the tires being placed on the property. For information about the Ohio EPA’s “No Fault” Scrap Tire Removal Program and to see if your case would be eligible, click here for more information.

A summary of all 2024 Go Green Community Grants awarded can be found here and here.

 

Already awarded a Go Green grant and need the close-out/reimbursement paperwork? Download it here.

A summary of all 2024 Drop-off Improvement Grants awarded can be found here

 

Already awarded a Drop-off Improvement Grant and need the close-out/reimbursement paperwork? Download it here.

WINTER HOURS 

(Nov 1 – Apr 30):

Trumbull County Collection Facility
5138 Enterprise Blvd. NW
Warren, Ohio 44481

Hours:
Wednesdays  10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Accepting Electronics, Appliances and Foam ONLY during winter

***Closed on government holidays and during severe weather.***

 

Geauga County Collection Facility
12685 Merritt Rd.
Chardon, OH 44024

Hours:
Fridays 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Accepting Electronics, Appliances, Household Hazardous Waste (HHW), and Foam

***Closed on government holidays and during severe weather.***