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. 

The request for a deadline extension has now been refused for that smaller part of the grant.

Scott Mason IV, an EPA administrator, wrote in an April 14 letter to Moreno that the project failed to meet established milestones and timelines and “several issues have contributed to delays in the overall grant performance.” 

“We will nonetheless continue to work on strategies to reduce waste and build a cleaner, more environmentally friendly New Orleans,” Moreno said in a statement announcing the denial. 

Saving or spending? 

Former employees in the city’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability who had been working to set up the program before layoffs hit the office in January argued that relinquishing the bulk of the grant was a mistake — and a missed opportunity to make a dent in the city’s recycling problem.

The original grant would have allocated over $4.5 million for 83,000 new residential recycling carts, as well as money for education and outreach, staff support and the solid waste master plan. Under the city’s current recycling system, residents can call 311 to request a blue recycling bin at no charge.

Chris Lang, one of the former employees, stressed that the grant would not require additional funding from the city. He noted that under the current setup, all residents pay a recycling fee regardless of whether they have a recycling cart at their home. 

Last fall, Department of Sanitation Director Matt Torri said the program would save the city money because every ton diverted from the landfill means money saved in tipping fees, or the charge for dropping off the waste.

City Council President J.P. Morrell, meanwhile, said there could be additional costs that the city would be forced to cover. He was concerned the program would lead to more trash, with residents using the new bins as an extra garbage can and complicating the work of the trash haulers. 

Sidney Torres IV and Alvin Richard, who own hauling companies IV Waste and Richard’s Disposal, also raised concerns over a lack of processing capacity at the nearby recycling facility.

Richard said the influx of recycling would bring a “tremendous cost” to the operators that was not taken into account in their current contracts.