Funder: Environmental Research and Education Foundation
Due Dates: December 1, 2026 (Pre-proposal) | May 1, 2027 (Pre-proposal)
Funding Amounts: Historical awards: $15,000 to over $500,000; recent average $160,000; typical duration about two years
Summary: EREF funds research advancing sustainable solid waste management through emissions reduction, emerging-contaminant research, and materials circularity.
Key Information: A pre-proposal is required; full proposals are accepted by invitation only.
Description
The Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF) supports research addressing challenges in sustainable solid waste management. Its three equally weighted priorities are climate change impacts and greenhouse gas emissions, emerging contaminants, and advancing materials circularity and recycling. Work may address emissions measurement and reduction, contaminant fate and management, circularity policies, environmental trade-offs, or barriers across the recovered-materials value chain.
EREF emphasizes industry relevance, practical applicability, and measurable impact. Its Research Council draws on academic and non-academic expertise to recommend projects for funding, with final decisions made by the Board of Directors. Projects should have broader relevance rather than benefit only a narrow waste stream, individual entity, community, or small geographic area. Funded results must be publicly available and unbiased.
