1. Establishment. The Maine Solid Waste Diversion Grant Program, referred to in this section as “the program,” is established to provide grants to public and private entities to assist in the development, implementation or improvement of programs, projects, initiatives or activities designed to increase the diversion of solid waste from disposal in the State.

2. Administration. The department shall administer the program and may dispense revenue from the Maine Solid Waste Management Fund established under section 2201 for the purposes of the program based on approved grant requests from public and private applicants. The department may provide grants for the documented costs of application proposals in accordance with the priorities in subsection 5. Costs incurred by the department in the development and administration of the program may be paid with revenue in the Maine Solid Waste Management Fund in a manner consistent with section 2201.

3. Audit. Revenue from the Maine Solid Waste Management Fund established under section 2201 disbursed by the program is subject to audit as determined by the department, and the recipient of any such funding must agree to be subject to audit and to cooperate with the auditor as a condition of receiving funding.

4. Eligibility criteria. The department may disburse grants under the program to any public or private entity demonstrating that a proposed program, project, initiative or activity is, in the department’s determination, likely to increase the diversion of solid waste from disposal within a particular community, municipality or region or the State, including, but not limited to, municipal or regional composting, organics recovery or recycling programs, including the establishment of such programs or the purchase of infrastructure, equipment or other items necessary to implement such programs or improve existing programs; programs designed to provide equipment for or otherwise support residential composting and recycling; programs or business models designed to collect, transport for processing or process organic or recyclable materials; pilot programs designed to evaluate the feasibility of targeted composting, organics recovery, recycling or other waste management programs or initiatives; and initiatives or programs designed to educate certain categories of individuals or the general public about composting, organics recovery or recycling or to otherwise improve individual or community waste management practices.

5. Priorities. The department shall give highest priority in the awarding of funds under this section to programs, projects, initiatives or activities proposed by municipal or regional association applicants that otherwise meet the department’s eligibility criteria. The department shall also give priority to applicants proposing programs, projects, initiatives or activities that are likely to increase the removal and recycling of organic materials from municipal waste streams. The awarding of funds under this section must be consistent with the solid waste management hierarchy established under section 2101 and the food recovery hierarchy established under section 2101?B and must be prioritized to provide the most benefit to the State in terms of increasing the diversion of solid waste from disposal.

6. Conditions of approval. The department may require, as a condition of grant approval, that an applicant demonstrate its ability to provide in-kind contributions relating to the grant applied for or to provide a certain level of matching funding to supplement the grant applied for.

7. Rules. The department may adopt rules to implement this section. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2?A.