NERC Blog

Today's guest blog is co-authored by Cynthia Mormile of MSW Consultants and Melissa Wenzel of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The original post can be read here.

Architecture 2030 has stated that a third of existing US buildings will be demolished by 2050—waste that, in large part, goes straight to landfills. In Minnesota, a staggering 90 percent of construction and demolition (C&D) debris is generated by demolition activity related to commercial and residential redevelopment.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) hired MSW Consultants through a competitive procurement process to determine where C&D materials come from and where they are brought to for disposal, to work towards changing current practices for C&D disposal and diversion. Our team conducted a statewide study, sampling the composition of the state’s C&D waste and estimating the percentages of major material groups and categories present using our proprietary app that incorporates material densities with volumes observed…

Today's guest blog is courtesy of NERC Advisory Member The Recycling Partnership. The original post can be read here.

Solutions for recyclable packaging are not one-size-fits-all. From aluminum beverage cans to glass bottles, each specific packaging material and format has its own unique recycling benefits and challenges, like design features or sorting technology. But addressing complex problems in siloes won’t further progress. We need all stakeholders across the value chain, for all materials, to engage in achieving a fully functioning U.S. residential recycling system and circular economy. The Recycling Partnership is furthering these efforts through the new Circular Packaging Spotlight and forthcoming Circular Packaging Assessment tool to further assist companies and communities with system complexities and individualized integrated solutions.  

Today's guest blog is courtesy of NERC Advisory Member The Recycling Partnership. The original post can be read here.

Known for its theme parks and tourism, Orlando, Florida is making a name for itself in another way: Recycling. A forward-thinking community with a deep-rooted commitment to environmental equity, Orlando strives to become a “zero waste” community by 2040. Adequate, efficient, and equitable recycling programs are key to achieving this “zero waste” goal. However, we know that recycling access is not equitable in every community. In fact, the imbalances go even further when we recognize that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) populations are two times more likely to live in multifamily housing than white populations, and about 3 out of every 5 multifamily households lack adequate access to recycling. Here’s where collaboration with The Recycling Partnership, a nonprofit…

Today's guest blog is authored by Alec Cooley of Busch Systems. It is third in a three-part series. The original post can be read here.

Brenda:  We’re back for the third and final installment of this set of blogs exploring the effectiveness of using words vs. images on bin signage. These in turn are part of a larger series where we’re reviewing the body of academic research to better understand the science of recycling behavior and how local facilities managers can better design collection bins and signage to influence correct sorting practices. In part 1 we reviewed a number of recycling-specific studies that tested the effectiveness of different sign arrangements. Part…

This blog is part of a series of conversations between Busch System’s Senior Advisor, Alec Cooley and Brenda Pulley exploring the science of recycling behavior in relation to bin and signage design.

Today's guest blog is authored by Alec Cooley of Busch Systems. It is first in a three-part series. The original post can be read here.

Alec: Welcome to the second post in our ongoing blog series exploring the intersection of recycling behavior and bin and signage design.  Our goal with these is to build a bridge between the academic world and that of “practitioners” (i.e. recycling and facilities managers).  As we observed in our first installment, a lot of research has been done to understand what influences people’s…

Today's guest blog is authored by Alec Cooley, Senior Advisor at Busch Systems. The original post can be read here.

I have a good friend, Bill, who I know through our local Sierra Club group. Bill has walked the talk as an environmentalist for over 40 years. There are few people I know more passionate or committed to taking action on behalf of conservation issues.  So, it’s a little disturbing when he periodically questions the value of separating recyclables.

This earnest question was also at the core of an exchange of professional listserv messages I had with a university sustainability officer recently. The person cited a 2019 NPR Planet Money investigative story that said in as many words that plastics recycling was a fraud, promoted by the petroleum industry and consumer brand companies to distract from the inherent wastefulness they profit from. The story argued that not only was the…

Today's guest blog is authored by Steve Alexander, president and CEO of NERC Advisory Member the Association of Plastic Recyclers. The original post can be read here.

I recently read the report on plastics recycling rates by The Last Beach Cleanup and Beyond Plastics and, like many of you, it certainly was not good for my blood pressure. The pitiful white flag of surrender raised by the reports' authors certainly does not speak for the tens of thousands of Americans employed by our industry who, amidst a global pandemic, recycled nearly 5 billion pounds of plastic in 2020.

I received calls and emails from a number of APR members pointing out that the authors' disingenuous claim of low recycling numbers was achieved by parsing data, resulting in publishing an unfair and distorted assessment of our industry for the public.

Let's be clear: the debate about plastics recycling today is focused on containers consumers buy and use daily — soda bottles, milk jugs, yogurt tubs, etc. The authors…

Today's guest blog is authored by Jon Smieja of GreenBiz Group. The original post can be read here.

Everyone who participates in the modern economy understands that packaging needs to be improved, right? 

Honestly, I get frustrated when it takes 10 minutes to get a kid’s toy out of the package. After extraction, I have the pleasure of scrutinizing every component to see if it’s recyclable (note: If I have to examine, it’s usually not recyclable). I don’t even want to think about what the average consumer does with toy packaging. I’m sure it’s horrifying.

Then there are people like the other 600 attendees at the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) Impact conference, which took place in San Francisco earlier this month. This group of people understands packaging. They know why a bottle of pain reliever is sold in a box even though the bottle protects the contents, and they know why the box…

As the political debate on how to pay for recycling continues, we need to focus on EPR’s strength of providing money for recycling. We need to accept that it won’t stabilize recycling markets or change packages. Done properly, it can raise recycling rates and stabilize programs. Every Paradise, however, comes with a snake.