The State of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection awarded over four hundred thousand dollars in grants during 2012 to assist fifty six small, independently owned businesses throughout the state invest in waste and pollution-prevention and energy-efficient projects.
The source of the funding comes fromPennsylvania’s Small Business Advantage Grant which is funded by the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act and is designed to assist businesses with one hundred employees or less and provides a matching grants of fifty percent up to implement projects that will reduce waste, pollution, or energy in excess of twenty five percent. Launched in 2004, the grant has been disbursed to over sixteen hundred small businesses.
Examples of past awards have been to fund upgrades to high-efficiency HVAC and insulation, energy-efficient heat pumps, high-efficiency lighting, and power units for large construction vehicles and cargo-delivery trucks to reduce idle engine time.
WasteCare Wants You to Remember: While not every state may have a program such as Pennsylvania’s it never hurts to look and ask around. In addition to state grants, there may be federal or even private money that your small business could apply for.