<b>St. Louis County Looks to Award Grants</B>

St. Louis County officials would like to award grants to 11 municipalities and the St. Louis County Municipal League for projects they hope will encourage recycling and reduce trash.

The $337,515 for the grants comes from a 5 percent surcharge on tipping fees that trash haulers pay to landfills in the county.

St. Louis County Executive George "Buzz" Westfall has asked the County Council to approve the grants.

The following are the grants the county wants to award:

$46,586 to Vinita Park to renovate a park with recreation equipment partly made from recycled material.

$44,331 to University City for at least one electronics recycling collection event.

$41,728 to Clayton for a pilot recycling project for multifamily housing in the Moorlands neighborhood.

$41,405 to St. John to subsidize recycling-collection costs for 590 households for a year and to buy recycling bins for each single- family house.

$35,858 to Valley Park to cover the operating cost of the municipality's recycling program for a year.

$34,000 to the St. Louis County Municipal League to review recycling and waste-diversion practices by cities within the county and to develop strategies to improve and upgrade them.

$30,888 to Velda Village Hills to subsidize a curbside recycling program and to buy recycling bins for each single-family house.

$27,586.88 to Moline Acres to buy playground equipment partly made from recycled materials and to start a fiber-collection program.

$16,500 to Florissant to cover the cost of its recycling center for a year.

$9,650 to Town and Country for furnishings made of recycled materials that would go into two parks.

$6,000 to Cool Valley to encourage residents to take part in curbside recycling and to provide recycling bins for each household.

$3,000 to Chesterfield for production and distribution of brochures on recycling and waste reduction to go to single-family houses. St. Louis Post-Dispatch