NERC Blog

I recently read an article in WIRED about the water crises in Flint and Washington, DC. This got me thinking about our nation’s extremely fragile and aging water infrastructure and our similarly aging and frail wastewater systems. I know water is not an issue that material managers typically deal with on a professional level, but wastewater and stormwater management does have some crossover. This recent article by Dr. Sally Brown examines the issues and overlap.

Today’s Guest Blog is by Jamie Rhodes Program Director for UPSTREAM. It was originally posted on the UPSTREAM Blog on June 16, 2016.

Most conferences I attend these days go out of their way to recognize “young professionals” and/or bring us “experienced professionals” together with the “young professionals.”

In a global economy focused on growth, realizing zero waste can seem a distant prospect. But that doesn't mean it should not be a goal.

Long before the advent of modern recycling, the ancients were already aware of the benefits of recycling and reuse.

Over the past few months I’ve discovered a new passion—green infrastructure.

Several nations in East Africa, which import hundreds of thousands of tons of recycled textiles from the United States, are now considering a ban on textiles imports in an effort to revitalize domestic clothing manufacturing.

Yes, plastics are fantastic, essential to the fabric of global society as well as the economy. Then again, so is chocolate. I work hard to weigh the pros and cons of my chocolate indulgence, and seek a middle ground: I don’t deny myself, but neither do I binge. Similarly, I believe that the responsible production, use, and recovery of plastic are shared responsibilities, issues that need to be considered more seriously by all of us.

This is Compost Awareness Week. This year’s theme—Compost–the Soil and Water Connection—focuses on the “need for compost as a component of healthy soil here in our country, in infrastructure development, agriculture and food production–compost’s role in everything from mitigation of brownfields, stormwater management and erosion control, and water conservation.”

Part 2 of Play Ball, Recycle, and Compost presents some examples of sustainability in the big leagues. To advance their commitments to sustainability, several Major League ballparks have implemented organics composting.