The U.S Environmental Protection Agency has rejected a request from the city of New Orleans to extend a deadline for a grant initially intended to expand curbside recycling to all households.
The EPA letter to New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno ends a heated saga involving trash haulers, city leaders and staffers over the city’s decision to reject the majority of the grant.
The $4 million EPA grant awarded in 2023 was first seen as an effective way to improve the paltry recycling rate in New Orleans, where only 2% of household waste is recycled and less than half of residents participate in the opt-in recycling program.
But New Orleans officials effectively relinquished nearly all of it in March, citing the possibility of additional costs and budgetary concerns related to the city’s deficit. As the deadline to complete the grant or ask for an extension loomed, city officials decided they would only be pursuing a $350,000 portion of the grant to establish a long-term solid waste master plan…