The Recycling Research Foundation (RRF), a nonprofit closely associated with the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), is currently accepting applications for both the National Scholarship and the Veterans Stipend Program.

“The Recycling Research Foundation’s establishment of the veterans’ stipend and national scholarships is a worthy cause that the recycling industry is proud to support,” ISRI President Robin Wiener said in a statement. “The RRF scholarships help students pursue an education they may not have the means to through existing government and scholarship aid.”

The National Foundation Scholarship is a $5,000 national scholarship aimed to support graduate students participating in a degree program that is applicable to the scrap recycling industry. The industry can be understood as being both labor and mechanically intensive as scrap processors take old and new metals, paper, rubber, plastic, glass and more, and sort it into established grades which are highly sought after by manufacturers as a readily available feedstock. The challenges of recycling has allowed for technological advances that require innovative minds, whom the National Scholarship intends to support.

The National Veterans Stipend is a stipend of up to $8,000 created for those who have served in the U.S. armed forces. The stipend covers $2,000 per year and is renewable for up to 4 years. It was created with the intention to financially assist veterans as they seek to complete their undergraduate education. In order to be eligible for this stipend, applicants must be U.S. citizens who have served a minimum of two years of active duty or four years in the military, and have been honorably discharged from service.

This year’s scholarship and stipend program deadline has been extended to June 30, 2017.