Hefty EnergyBag Grants Continue for 2019

The Dow Chemical Company is again teaming up with national nonprofit Keep America Beautiful to award up to $100,000 in grants for organizations to establish Hefty EnergyBag programs in their communities.

The Hefty EnergyBag program, led by Dow and Reynolds Consumer Products, offers an approach to diverting hard-to-recycle plastics, such as chip bags, standup pouches, candy wrappers and juice pouches, from landfills and converting the materials into valuable resources.

For the third year, the 2019 Hefty EnergyBag grant program will offer up to $100,000 in grants to select communities across the nation. The first permanent Hefty EnergyBag program launched in the Omaha area in October 2016. As part of the 2017 grant program, Dow awarded $50,000 each to organizations in Boise, Idaho, and Cobb County, Ga., (Keep Cobb Beautiful Inc.) to establish the program in their respective communities. Boise launched the Hefty EnergyBag program in May 2018, and Cobb County will kick off its local program toward the end of this year. Next month, Dow will announce the winner(s) of its second grant program that closed on June 30.

“We’re pleased to continue our relationship with Keep America Beautiful and offer communities across the nation an opportunity to establish the Hefty EnergyBag program as part of their existing waste management infrastructure,” said Jon Pyper, associate director of sustainability and advocacy for Dow, in a statement. “The Omaha area and Boise programs have already proven the success of the program by generating strong community involvement and diverting tons of plastic waste from landfills. We’re eager to continue expanding this program to new communities across the country for a third year.”

The grant application is open to municipalities, nonprofits, materials recovery facilities and other qualifying organizations through January 31, 2019. Dow will equip grant recipients with a framework for developing a successful Hefty EnergyBag program in their communities and will facilitate planning, implementation and measurement. Recipients will manage their local programs and solicit involvement from key community stakeholders. Dow and Keep America Beautiful will host two one-hour webinars on November 7 and December 12 to review the application process and describe how they will evaluate grant applications.