How to Fund a Compost Facility with Grants, Loans and Leasing

Most compost facilities are funded from a stack of sources, not a single one: a grant where one is available, long-term debt (a State Revolving Fund loan, a bond or a commercial loan) repaid from tipping fees and product sales, the owner’s own capital, and leasing for equipment that is needed before the rest is in place. As of October 2026 several well-known grant programs are between rounds, so build a plan that works without a grant and treat any award as a way to reduce debt.

Key takeaways

Start with the revenue that will repay the project (tipping fees, avoided disposal cost, product sales), then choose funding sources that fit it.
Grants are competitive and cyclical. Several federal and state programs had no open round when we checked on 1 October 2026.
Biosolids composting at a public treatment works may qualify for Clean Water State Revolving Fund financing, which is run by each state.
Leasing mobile equipment can start operations and produce data while grants and permits are pending.
Funders of every kind ask the same questions: feedstock, permits, technology evidence, markets and operating plan.
Check the current cycle on the agency’s own page before you plan around any program.

Start with the revenue that repays the project

Every lender, bond underwriter and grant reviewer wants to see how the facility pays its way after construction. A compost facility has three main sources:

Tipping fees from haulers, cities or generators that deliver feedstock. These are strongest when backed by multi-year contracts or by a public agency’s own collection program.
Avoided cost, for an owner that currently pays to haul and dispose of the same material. Wastewater utilities and cities often justify a project this way.
Product sales of compost, mulch and blends. Treat these conservatively until you have buyers.

SG’s financing page also mentions carbon credits as a potential source. Treat any credit revenue as an upside, not as a basis for repayment, unless you have a signed agreement.

The more of this revenue is under contract, the more of the project can be financed with debt. The lifecycle cost guide explains the cost side of the same model.

The funding stack at a glance

Source	Who can use it	What it suits	Main limits
Federal and state grants	Depends on the program; often local governments and tribes, sometimes private firms and nonprofits	Capital items, sometimes planning	Competitive, cyclical, reporting duties, often a required match
Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan	Mainly public wastewater owners; other entities for some project types	Biosolids handling at treatment works	State priority list and schedule, federal requirements
WIFIA loan	Public and private borrowers with eligible water projects	Large wastewater projects	Scale and application effort
Municipal bonds	Public agencies	Long-lived site infrastructure	Needs legal authority, a repayment source and lead time
Fee-backed or commercial loans	Private operators; public enterprise funds	Projects with contracted tipping fees	Lender needs contracts, permits and operating history or guarantees
State loan programs	Depends on the program	Equipment and site improvements	State-specific eligibility
Equipment leasing	Any operator	Mobile systems and rolling stock, interim capacity	Covers equipment, not site work
Owner capital and partners	Any	Match, early development costs	Limited supply

Grants: what was open on 1 October 2026

We checked each program below on its official page on 1 October 2026. Status changes, so check the current cycle before you plan. The list of best grants for organics infrastructure describes more programs and what each funds.

Federal

EPA Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR), political subdivisions. The EPA page lists organics among eligible materials and composting among the management pathways, with counties, cities, towns and similar units of government eligible. Status: EPA states it is not currently accepting applications. It announced 16 second-round selectees on December 12, 2025. The program was funded for fiscal years 2022 to 2026, so a further round is not assured.
SWIFR, tribes and intertribal consortia. The main SWIFR page says EPA announced 23 second-round selectees on July 29, 2026.
SWIFR, states and territories. The same page says EPA anticipates announcing additional selections in 2026. This track funds state planning and implementation, so ask your state solid waste office whether organics capacity is in its plan.
USDA Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) cooperative agreements. The last application round we could confirm was for fiscal year 2024. Do not plan around it unless USDA posts a new notice.

State examples

California. CalRecycle’s Organics Grant Program funds new and expanded organics facilities and accepts public and private applicants. Status: no open applications and no upcoming cycles listed, with funding “to be determined in the state budget”. SG’s project pages state that CalRecycle grants were part of the funding for the Mid Valley Disposal facility in Kerman and the City of San Diego Miramar Greenery.
New York. The Department of Environmental Conservation’s organics funding page lists the Municipal Waste Reduction and Recycling program, under which organics management projects are eligible and capital project applications are ongoing. It also lists Empire State Development’s Business Food Waste Mitigation grant for capital equipment as open, and shows its 2024 municipal food scraps recycling funding round with awards already announced.
Minnesota. The Pollution Control Agency’s statewide organics management infrastructure grant closed on April 15, 2026. It accepted public, private, nonprofit and tribal applicants and required a match. Watch the agency for later rounds.

Other states run their own programs. Ask your state solid waste agency, and ask early: many programs open for only a few weeks.

Loans and revolving funds

Clean Water State Revolving Fund

The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) is a federal and state partnership. EPA capitalizes each state’s program, the state adds a match, and the state lends to eligible recipients for water infrastructure, with repayments recycled into new loans. Construction of publicly owned treatment works is the first eligible category. EPA’s Overview of CWSRF Eligibilities (May 2016) lists “biosolids dewatering and residuals handling equipment” among centralized treatment projects.

For a utility that wants to compost its biosolids, this is the first place to look. Each state sets its own priorities, application calendar and terms, and decides whether a specific composting project qualifies. Call the state’s CWSRF office before design starts, since projects usually need to be on the state’s priority list. The buyer’s guide for wastewater utilities covers the technical decision.

WIFIA

EPA’s WIFIA program is a federal credit program for water and wastewater infrastructure. Projects that are eligible for the Clean Water SRF are eligible, and borrowers can be public entities, partnerships, corporations and trusts. When we checked, EPA’s WIFIA page said it was accepting letters of interest. It suits large utility capital programs more than a stand-alone compost pad.

State loan programs

Some states lend as well as grant. In California, CalRecycle’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Loan Program helps recycling manufacturers finance machinery, equipment and related costs, with government, private and nonprofit applicants eligible. CalRecycle’s funding page listed it as “Continuous” when we checked.

Bonds and fee-backed finance

Public agencies commonly fund long-lived infrastructure with bonds. Two broad forms apply. General obligation bonds are backed by the agency’s taxing power and usually need voter or board authority. Revenue bonds are repaid from a specific source, such as solid waste or sewer enterprise fees. Composting fits either when it is part of the agency’s solid waste or wastewater system. Your finance director, municipal advisor and bond counsel decide the structure.

Private operators use the same logic with commercial lenders. A loan is repaid from tipping fees, so the lender looks at the strength of the feedstock contracts, the permit status, the operator’s record and the evidence that the technology will meet its throughput. Put-or-pay contracts with creditworthy public customers carry the most weight. The buyer’s guide for private composters and haulers covers the revenue model.

Public-private structures split these roles: a public agency supplies the site and the feedstock commitment, and a private partner finances, builds and operates. The buyer’s guide for municipalities compares the operating models.

Leasing as a bridge

Leasing does not fund a pad or a pond, but it can put a composting system on the ground while the larger funding is assembled. SG’s leasing program covers the SG MOBILE® System and, according to SG, includes delivery, setup, system training and ongoing technical assistance. SG lists bridging gaps between grant phases as one of its typical leasing scenarios and says lessees can later transition to a permanent SG BUNKER® System.

A leased or pilot system also produces the operating data that funders ask for. Our guide to leasing versus buying covers the decision and the questions to ask.

How to stack sources

No rule fits every project, but a workable order is:

Size the project and its revenue. Tons, feedstock, site, technology and a conservative operating model.
Secure the feedstock. Contracts or a board-approved collection program.
Fund development costs from owner capital. Feasibility, pilot, permitting and preliminary design are rarely grant-funded.
Line up long-term debt sized to what the contracted revenue can repay: SRF loan, bond or commercial loan.
Apply for grants to reduce the debt or to add scope, such as emission control or capacity for food waste.
Use leasing for early capacity, for a pilot, or for mobile equipment.
Check the interactions. Confirm that one source’s rules do not conflict with another’s: match requirements, whether federal funds can serve as match for another federal grant, procurement rules, ownership conditions on grant-funded equipment, and the timing of reimbursements. Many grants pay after you spend, so you need cash or interim financing to cover the gap.

Application checklist

Have these ready before a program opens. Most of them serve a lender as well.

[ ] Project description with annual tons by feedstock and a site plan
[ ] Evidence of site control (ownership, lease or option)
[ ] Feedstock commitments or letters from generators and haulers
[ ] Permit path: solid waste, air and water permits needed, status of each, and schedule
[ ] Technology description with third-party performance data and the test conditions
[ ] Pilot or demonstration results on your own feedstock, if available
[ ] Budget by line item, with quotes, and a clear split between grant-funded and other costs
[ ] Match sources and proof that they are committed
[ ] Operating plan: staffing, training, maintenance, monitoring and records
[ ] Compost market plan with buyer letters or internal use commitments
[ ] Environmental and community benefits in the program’s own metrics, with the method shown
[ ] Schedule with procurement, construction and commissioning milestones
[ ] Board or council resolution, and registrations the funder requires
[ ] A named person responsible for grant reporting after award

On evidence: SG’s pilots page says its pilot program is used for data collection for grant applications or permitting. According to SG’s Miramar project pages, the City of San Diego’s pilot-scale demonstration helped it earn its CalRecycle grant. See how to run a composting pilot.

What SG says it provides

SG’s financing and grants page states that the company helps customers identify and apply for local, state and federal funding programs, naming USDA, EPA and CalRecycle as examples, and that it offers access to loans, leasing options and purchase structures matched to budget and project size. It also says its team supplies data, documentation and return-on-investment modeling to support funding applications. The page does not list specific lenders or terms, so ask SG what it can provide for your project and which programs it has supported applications to.

FAQ

Are federal composting grants available as of October 2026?

Few are open. EPA states it is not accepting applications for SWIFR political subdivision grants, and the program’s funding ran through fiscal year 2026. The last USDA CFWR application round we could confirm was for fiscal year 2024. Federal loan programs for water infrastructure remain active. Check each agency’s page for new notices before you plan.

Can a private composter get public funding?

Sometimes. Program rules differ. California’s Organics Grant Program and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Loan Program list private for-profit entities as eligible, and Minnesota’s 2026 organics infrastructure grant accepted businesses. Federal SWIFR grants go to governments and tribes, so private operators usually take part as contractors or partners to a public applicant.

Can State Revolving Fund money pay for biosolids composting?

It may. EPA’s eligibility overview for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund lists biosolids dewatering and residuals handling equipment among treatment works projects, and publicly owned treatment works are a core eligible category. Each state decides which projects it funds and when. Ask your state’s program office whether your composting project qualifies and how to get on the priority list.

Should we wait for a grant before starting?

Usually not. Grant schedules are uncertain, and costs incurred before an award are often ineligible, so know each program’s rules. Use the waiting time for work that every funder needs: feedstock commitments, permitting, a pilot and preliminary design. If you need capacity in the meantime, leasing mobile equipment is one option.

What makes an application stronger?

Local evidence. Measured results from your own feedstock, a clear permit path, committed feedstock and match, named compost buyers and a realistic operating plan answer the questions reviewers ask. Applications that rely on brochure figures and unsecured assumptions score lower than those with data and signed letters.

Next step

To talk through funding options, leasing or the data a funder will want for your project, contact SG. SG’s financing and grants page describes the support it offers.

Related guides

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