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Thoughts by Ed Boisson, former NERC Executive Director

September 18, 2012

Happy birthday to the Northeast Recycling Council!

I first became involved with NERC in summer 1994, while I was a recycling market development manager with the California Integrated Waste Management Board. After seeing an ad for the Executive Director position, I pondered my options. Of course I was familiar with NERC's pioneering work negotiating voluntary agreements with newspaper publishers and other industry engagement efforts. And after meeting the staff and members, and discovering that Brattleboro was a great place to live, I pursued the job and soon found myself driving cross country to Vermont.

From Legislative Orientation to Markets

At the time, NERC was transitioning from a legislative orientation to a market development orientation. A recession was deepening, and the mantra then as now became jobs, jobs and jobs. Along with staffers Michael Alexander, Ellen Pratt, Mary Ann Remolador and Rebecca Bartlett, and the Executive Leadership Team of Jeff Lissack (MA) and Janet Matthews (NY), and later Guy Watson (NJ) and Randy Coburn (NY), NERC pursued directions we hadn't conceived of previously. We teamed with regional investment groups to sponsor recycling investment forums that helped launch innovative firms.

We held recycling business development training programs for local and state economic development officials with the National Development Council and the Wharton School. We researched recycling business growth, mergers and acquisitions, and investments, and we compiled detailed financial statistics on the industry.

Engaging Key Decision-Makers

We also continued NERC's tradition of engaging key decision-makers, including sessions with State Departments of Transportation and Procurement Departments; and we continued to monitor efforts and engage newspaper and yellow page publishers, pulp & paper manufacturers, and other industry groups. On top of all this, NERC member meetings were held quarterly, providing regular opportunities to tackle the hot topics and have some fun.

In my last couple years with NERC we launched the regional Recycling Economic Information Project that was soon after expanded to the U.S. by the National Recycling Coalition. And, we developed the first environmental benefits calculator, perhaps the first centralized source of materials management life-cycle data designed to be used easily to estimate energy, greenhouse gas and other resource conservation benefits of local recycling programs.

NERC's greatest strength is its base

As a regional coalition of state agencies that also brings together industry, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders, NERC helps to frame the debate and set the agenda for the recycling community. NERC is continuing in this vein through its many initiatives involving electronics, sustainability and other topics at the cutting edge of materials management.

NERC will undoubtedly continue to help chart the course for recycling and materials management enthusiasts as we continue to transition to the 21st century agenda.

The key issues I see include:

  • Continuing to establish a solid policy and program foundation that links recycling and waste reduction to broader energy, climate and sustainability goals;
  • Launching renewed business and market development efforts that address our high dependence on export markets and the vulnerability of domestic recycling market infrastructure (especially on the West Coast, but throughout the nation);
  • Expanding recycling collection and processing infrastructure to include hard-to-recycle portions like food waste and contaminated paper; and
  • Developing appropriate policies to guide implementation of anaerobic digestion and other conversion technologies to manage the materials that slip through the recycling and composting infrastructure, while delivering low-cost, low-carbon fuel sources.

Currently, as a consultant with SAIC Energy, Environment & Infrastructure based in my home town of San Rafael, California, I remember my days with NERC very fondly. I miss the people and the energy that NERC always provided. I will continue to watch NERC from afar and, as opportunities arise, visit and work with NERC's team as they continue to chart the course for recycling in the "new" century.

 

Ed Boisson
August 12, 2012

Guest Blogs represent the opinion of the writer and may not reflect the policy or position of the Northeast Recycling Council, Inc.

 

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