Green Grants Program (Recycling & Waste Reduction Category)

Green Grants Program (Recycling & Waste Reduction Category) is sponsored by Keep Virginia Beautiful. The Green Grants program empowers groups and organizations across Virginia to make an environmental impact.

Green Grants Program - Keep Virginia Beautiful Thank you to all of the groups who submitted project proposals for the 2026 cycle of Green Grants. It has been inspiring to see your ideas to make your community cleaner, greener, and more beautiful! Awards will be announced starting on June 1st.

Please follow our Instagram , Facebook , and LinkedIn pages throughout the month of June to learn about our grantees and their projects and programs. Our Green Grants program empowers groups and organizations across Virginia to make an environmental impact in their own communities. This is one of the ways we can engage the people who live in Virginia to improve our natural and scenic environment.

We believe in a shared responsibility to end littering, improve recycling and beautify communities, and we know with your determination and our support, much can be accomplished! Keep Virginia Beautiful accepts grant applications in the Spring, and funds thirty awards in amounts of $500, $750, or $1,000. The applications are evaluated and scored by a panel of experts in their fields.

In June, a Green Grant award is announced each day. The grants are awarded to schools, parks, counties and towns, environmental groups, associations, nonprofits, and service organizations. You should choose the category that is most appropriate for your program or project: Litter Prevention, Cigarette Litter Prevention & Recycling, Community Beautification, Recycling and Waste Reduction, or Environmental Education.

You may submit an application in more than one category, but only one award would be made to the organization for the Spring Green Grants Program. Here is a presentation showing how the 2025 Green Grants awards have already made an impact all across the state! To see the names of the 2025 Green Grants awardees for ideas and inspiration click here .

For exciting opportunities to be a sponsor of the Green Grants Program, view our Sponsorship Packet ! For questions about the Green Grants Program or the application, please contact Malissa Watterson , Development Director. DESCRIPTION OF GRANT CATEGORIES: Cigarette Litter Prevention & Recycling Cigarette butts account for over 30% of all U.S. roadway litter and storm drain litter.

Grants are awarded for projects that include public education and awareness of the issue of cigarette litter, placing cigarette butt receptacles at transition points (such as entrances to public buildings), recycling cigarette butts through the TerraCycle , and/or distributing pocket or portable ashtrays to adult smokers. Learn more about Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling .

The purpose of this grant is to support beautification efforts within Virginia’s communities. Grants are awarded to groups who create projects or programs that beautify and benefit the community, such as community gardens, renovating vacant lots, removing or repainting graffiti, creating green public spaces, and community revitalization projects. Here’s a booklet about placemaking for inspiration!

Recycling & Waste Reduction Grants in the Recycling category are awarded to groups that implement or expand programs to increase recycling, as well as other inventive ways to reuse or repurpose recyclable/non-recyclable items, or other ways to reduce waste in Virginia.

Funding will support recycling receptacles, fix-it fairs, re-usable produce and shopping bags, water refilling stations, and other efforts to eliminate the dependence on single-use plastics. Learn about TerraCycle’s free recycling programs for many household items such as toothpaste and shampoo bottles. New for 2026!

Environmental education Grants in this category fund projects or programs for youth, teens, or adults where the primary objective is public education related to our mission areas of Litter, Recycling and Waste Reduction, and Community Beautification. Examples of projects and programs include outdoor field trips, demonstrating how to install a native plant garden, or facilitating a rain barrel workshop.

Since 2011, Keep Virginia Beautiful has provided $385,750 for 475 projects and programs throughout the state. We are grateful to the sponsors of our Green Grants Program! Cigarette Litter Prevention Student Ambassadors for Virginia’s Environment (SAVE) Cigarette Litter Prevention Student Ambassadors for Virginia’s Environment (SAVE)