NERC Blog

Today's guest blog is authored by Kevin Roche of NERC Advisory Member ecomaine. The original Resource Recycling post can be found here.

As we move further into 2021, we have gained some level of hindsight on those early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. We know what steps we can take to limit the spread of the virus, and we know of the risks that respiratory droplets present.

We also know that the pandemic has changed the way we look at recycling and waste management systems, particularly when it comes to the way our programs connect with the international manufacturing pipelines for many important products.

An essential business in more ways than one

Following on the heels of China’s National Sword policies, COVID-19 added layers of uncertainty to an already-shifting recycling market landscape.

As businesses in the U.S. began to close (either temporarily…

Today's guest blog is courtesy of the Stateline initiative of The Pew Charitable Trust. Its original posting can be found here.

President Joe Biden came down squarely on the side of the “Mr. Fixits” of the world Friday, issuing an executive order directing the Federal Trade Commission to make rules that will limit manufacturers’ ability to restrict independent repairs of their products.

The order, which also contained several other initiatives designed to increase competition across the American economy, comes as good news to the “right-to-repair” movement—a coalition of consumer advocates, independent repair shops and do-it-yourselfers, many of whom want to be able to get parts and instruction manuals from manufacturers.

Many companies have restricted access to…

Today's guest blog was originally published by Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. The original post can be read here.

Prominent Northeastern grocery store chain Hannaford Supermarkets made headlines recently by declaring that for an entire year it had not sent any spoiled or outdated food to landfills, where the organic decomposition process produces methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases.

Instead, Hannaford, which operates in New England and New York, is contracting with an anaerobic food reprocesser to strip the food from its packaging, mix it with microbes and manure, and turn it into fuel, fertilizer and bedding for dairy cows.

While bovines belching methane also is a climate problem, the Hannaford effort targets one of the leading sources of methane. Food waste in landfills produces the third largest amount of methane emissions in the United States (17%), after petroleum production (30%) and animal gas and manure (27%), according to the U.S.…

Today's guest blog is authored by freelance writer Meg Wilcox. Its original posting can be found on GreenBiz.com.

If global plastics production continues under business as usual, the world will mismanage 7.7 gigatons of plastics over the next 20 years, according to new research from Google. To put that number into perspective, 7.7 gigatons is equal to 16 times the weight of the entire human population on earth today, Mike Werner, Google’s lead for circular economy, told participants in a breakout session at GreenBiz Group’s Circularity 2021.

Today's guest blog is authored by Kevin O'Reilly of U.S. PIRG's Campaign for the Right to Repair. The original post can be found here.

Across the country, people are demanding the ability to extend the life of their products — without having to rely on whoever they bought them from. They’re tired of tossing their otherwise-good electronics into the scrap heap because of a broken screen or aging battery. They don’t want to be pressured into buying a new device. Farmers are sick of waiting on dealers to fix their tractors while their crops potentially go bad. Amidst the pandemic, doctors and patients alike were horrified that hospital…

Today's guest blog is authored by Susan Robinson of NERC Advisory Member Waste Management. The original posting can be found here.

Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies (U.S EPA)

Environmental Justice (EJ) may be one of the most talked-about topics in our industry in 2021.  Every organization that I belong to has created or is developing an EJ policy.  Federal and state legislation is being proposed – and passed – and regulators are recognizing the need to enforce existing laws carefully.  Companies are concerned about their ability to meet aggressive sustainability goals alongside new permitting restrictions, and they are concerned that…

According to Resource Recycling, new position papers statements on chemical recycling, bottle bills, and mass balance methodology for postconsumer resin have been issued by the Association of Plastics Recyclers (APR)  that “cover topics that have taken center stage at industry events, dominated corporate press releases and fueled legislative debates.”

At NERC’s Fall 2019 Conference, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) described chemical recycling as “Leveraging chemistry to convert post-use plastics into valuable next generation products which extend the life of the plastic.” Now APR has weighed in on the controversial issue, stating that “chemical recycling has the potential to expand opportunities for recycling of materials that are not recycled by mechanical processes today, but that “[c]hemical recycling is not a replacement for mechanical or traditional recycling, but it is a compliment to these processes for materials that are rarely recycled mechanically.”

“Chemical…

Today's guest blog is authored by NERC board member Chaz Miller. It originally appeared on the Waste360 website.

Donnie Downer. That’s what I felt like for the last three years when speaking about markets at recycling conferences. The news was almost uniformly depressing. Following the Chinese government’s 2017 announcement about ending recyclable paper and plastic imports, markets went down and stayed down. The press went on an orgy of negative stories. We were told recycling was “broken” or worse.

Yet now, it seems the corpse has a lot of life in it. Markets for most recyclables have rebounded nicely. Best of all, prices for old corrugated containers and mixed paper are likely to continue to rise throughout…

Today's guest blog is authored by Steve Alexander of NERC Advisory Member The Association of Plastics Recyclers (APR). The original post can be found here.

Today's guest blog is authored by Megan Byers of NERC Advisory Member The Association of Plastic Recyclers. The original post can be found here.

Did you know that recycling doesn't end at the bin?

If you're like most people, you probably already recycle your empty containers at home and on the go.

Thank you! Recycling is such an important step to keep valuable materials out of the landfill and in the economy, preventing pollution while creating green jobs.

Now it's time to complete the cycle of recycling. It's just as important to buy products made with recycled content as it is to recycle.

Our consumer choices have an impact far beyond the register. We simply have to stop extracting so much from the Earth. To unlock all those environmental and economic benefits that come with recycling, your recyclables have to transform into new products.

In other words… you already recycle. Now it's time to Buy Recycled.