Eleven nonprofit groups will share $600,000 for various environmental projects to improve the Leeward Coast, Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz announced Wednesday.

Funds for the Supplemental Environmental Project grants come from a 2006 settlement agreement between the state, the city and Waste Management Inc., to settle violations from its operation of the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill. All of the violations have been addressed.

The initial settlement agreement of $1.5 million included the money that was set aside for environmental and community improvement projects, said Steven Chang, chief of the Department of Health Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch.

Grants were awarded on a competitive basis and the projects are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

"You’re not getting a lot of money each, but in the aggregate it’s a significant sum," Schatz said in announcing the grants at a news conference in his office. "In the aggregate, as you see what you’re all doing, it’s going to make a real impact in the community."

A list of grant recipients can be found at the lieutenant governor’s website: hawaii.gov/ltgov/newsroom/press-releases