Circular Economy Grants are designed to support the development of circular supply chains in Michigan ranging from innovation in upstream solutions to both the creation and scale of markets for recovered materials.
Donor Name: NextCycle Michigan
State: Michigan
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/13/2026
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
These grants will support solutions which utilize otherwise wasted material streams through reuse, repair, remanufacturing, recycling, or other eligible circular economy solutions. These grants are designed to create new markets or expand existing markets for recovered materials and stimulate demand for recovered materials and recycled content products, creating strong supply chains to feed demand. These grants will assist businesses, communities, and non-profits in their efforts to collect, process, manufacture, market, and use recycled and organic materials supporting circular supply chains. These grants will support commercializing technologies to replace materials with recycled content; to improve the quality, increase the quantity, and grow demand for utilizing recycled materials in manufacturing or other uses; and facilitate research and development of new uses for recovered materials.
Objectives
- Target specific recycling gaps/opportunities with best practice solutions.
- Target solutions that leverage added public/ private investment.
- Target solutions that can be scaled across the state.
- Target economic and environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas reduction, jobs created, water saved, energy saved, or other positive environmental and economic outcomes.
- Target increasing the statewide recycling rate to 45 percent, while building diversity, equity, and inclusion across Michigan.
- Target benefits for an environmental justice community, underserved, or vulnerable populations within a community.
- Target climate change priorities through measurable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by diverting material from disposal.
- Target societal benefits to the Impacted community that justifies the investment.
Categories
There are a variety of categories which grant projects may align with to be eligible including the following:
- Novel Technology
- Recycled Content and Material Innovations
- Supply Chain Adaptation
- Organic Material
- Upstream Innovations
Funding Information
- Total Amount Available: $3 Million
- Per Grant Amount Available: $50,000 – $250,000.
Grant Period
All grant project activities will be expected to be completed within an 18-month period.
Uses of Funds
Grant funds are provided via reimbursement of expenses and can be utilized for equipment and supplies, research and testing, data analysis and collection, marketing and promotion, travel (aligned with the state travel rates) and/or services related to expenditures. The grants have an award cap based on expenditure type. See the application packet for more details.
Eligible Projects
- These grants are designed to support projects which are ready for implementation and will have notable impact on building a circular economy in Michigan. Projects are expected to be ready for implementation either as a pilot, initial launch, or scaling. Early-stage projects still in ideation and early feasibility stage are not a good fit for this program.
- This grant is focused on addressing a broad range of otherwise wasted materials ranging from plastics, C&D material, metals, tires, electronic waste, batteries, Mattresses, food scraps, textiles, glass, paint, wind turbines, and other materials which can be captured in Michigan.
Eligible Expenditures
- Equipment
- Supplies
- Personnel
- Travel
- Contractual
- Other Direct Costs
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must be physically located in Michigan and can be a single entity or a collaboration.
- Businesses
- Non-profit organizations
- Tribal governments
- School districts, universities, colleges
- Local health departments
- Regional planning agencies, municipal solid waste or resource recovery authorities
- Cities, villages, townships, charter townships, counties
- Or similar entities.
For more information, visit Nextcycle Michigan.
