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NERC's mission is to advance an environmentally sustainable economy by promoting source and toxicity reduction, recycling, and the purchasing of environmentally preferable products and services.
State and Advisory Member Updates, as well articles of General Interest are provided as submissions to NERC and may not reflect the policy or position of the Northeast Recycling Council, Inc.
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We are delighted to welcome Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) as a renewing Sustaining Member of NERC and the Centre County Solid Waste Authority as a renewing Supporting Member.
A hallmark of NERC is the strength of multi-stakeholder involvement and problem solving. This is a direct result of the active participation and support of NERC's Advisory Members. To see a listing of Advisory Members and the benefits of membership, visit the NERC Advisory Membership web page.
The broad spectrum of interests represented by NERC's Advisory Members and Board Members and their willingness to participate significantly contribute to the unique and important role that NERC plays in recycling in the region.
Wondering how you can effectively promote your products and services and still save money? NERC's Spring '10 Workshop - March 23 - will explore on-line tools that will help you do both.
Expert speakers will demonstrate how to use these tools and explain how to benefit from them. Speakers include:
Who Should Attend: Businesses, business service providers, state environmental agencies, municipal recycling coordinators, sustainability coordinators, consultants, and non-profit organizations.
For more information, contact Mary Ann Remolador , NERC Assistant Director.
NERC and the NCER (despite the unfortunate pairing of acronyms) have joined forces to create an exciting new organization known as the Electronics Recycling Coordination Clearinghouse (ERCC). The ERCC is a forum for coordination and information exchange among the state agencies that are implementing electronics recycling laws. While the laws in the states vary in their structure and impact, there are many basic areas of overlap that can be implemented in a consistent manner.
The governance, dues structure, and basic activities of the ERCC are modeled on the successful organization managed by NERC, known as the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse (TPCH). TPCH has demonstrated over the years that providing this type of coordination can benefit and reduce costs for state governments and provide consistency to the impacted industry.
The ERCC will serve to identify and coordinate joint approaches to common challenges within the electronics recycling programs. The ERCC is divided into two basic types of membership. The first are the voting members, who are states and local governments that are implementing electronics recycling laws. In addition to the voting members, the ERCC includes an affiliate, non-voting membership made up of industry and other organizations. The ERCC provides affiliate members a forum to efficiently and effectively meet with state regulators to discuss the various aspects of their legislation, and a single resource for important information needed to make timely decisions that affect programmatic details in multiple states.
The ERCC will serve as a forum for discussion and coordinated responses between Member States and the Advisory Group through regular calls and meetings. The ERCC will also collect and maintain updated data on collection volumes/performance measures, manufacturer contact information, and return share. Additionally, Member States will be able to pursue projects such as combining manufacturer registration forms and joint access to needed market research data. By offering a coordinated approach for states that are implementing state electronics recycling the ERCC will minimize the administrative process for states and the regulated community, create a centralized location for receipt and processing of registration and reports, and maintain a formalized system that allows for the discussion issues related to electronics recycling legislation.
We are currently in the process of inviting potential members to join in the launch of the Clearinghouse in January 2010, and have been very encouraged with the response as several states have already committed to being Founding Members and several more are in the approval process. In addition, we have had a positive from a leading trade association.
An official press release launching the organization will be published during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. For more information on how to sign up as a Founding Member in 2009, please contact Jason Linnell, NCER or Lynn Rubinstein, NERC, or https://www.ecycleclearinghouse.org/
The NERC grant to work in EPA Region 8 to promote the State Electronics Challenge began just a month ago and we already have the first Partner from that Region—The North Dakota Department of Health, Division of Waste Management. For more information about the State Electronics Challenge, contact Lynn Rubinstein, NERC Executive Director, and see the next article about a free informational teleconference.
The Northeast Recycling Council has been holding regional events for more than 20 years. If you are interested in the possibility of speaking at its Fall Conference—November 3 & 4, Hotel Northampton in Northampton, Massachusetts—please submit a one-page abstract to maryann@nerc.org by May 1, 2010.
Topics to be discussed at the Conference include:
Abstract Submission Deadline - May 1, 2010
For more information, contact Mary Ann Remolador , NERC's Event Organizer.
The State Electronics Challenge (SEC) is a voluntary program that promotes the environmental stewardship of computers by state, regional, and local government by providing information, implementation tools, recognition, and technical assistance for procurement, power management, and end-of-life management of computers. Through your stewardship, you will save energy, money, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
Last year, 33 SEC Partners in the Northeast, ranging from Maine's state government to cities such as Keene, New Hampshire, made a commitment to purchase "green" computers, lower the energy consumption of computers in use, and reuse and recycle equipment at the end of its life. These efforts resulted in the following benefits.
Reduction In |
How Much? |
Equivalent To |
Energy use |
21.8 million kWh |
Electricity to power 1,823 U.S. households annually |
Greenhouse gas emissions |
2,333 metric tons of carbon equivalents |
Removing 1,566 cars from the road per year |
Toxic materials, including lead & mercury |
781 lbs |
|
Municipal solid waste |
156 metric tons |
Waste generated by 78 households annually |
Hazardous waste |
65 metric tons |
If you're interested in more information, join us for a free introductory teleconference on Thursday, February 4, 2010, Noon – 1, Eastern. You will be provided with call-in instructions and a PowerPoint in advance of the call.
NERC has been working hard on the strategic plan for the Vermont Business Materials Exchange (VBMX). As part of the effort to spread the word about reuse around the state, a new brochure was developed. The brochure design uses color, pictures, and some text to draw businesses, municipal governments, and non-profit organizations to the Exchange website. The brochure format also saves paper! For more information, contact Mary Ann Remolador, NERC's Assistant Director and VBMX Administrator.
The minutes from the Annual Meeting of the NERC Board of Directors are now available. For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein.
In October, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection held its first Gypsum Wallboard (GWB) Recycling stakeholders meeting to discuss how to increase recycling of wallboard from new construction. The GWB Recycling Group is part of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee working to implement the CT Solid Waste Management Plan, Amended December 2006. The group has met twice, learning about regional markets, Connecticut businesses that already recover gypsum from Connecticut construction sites and current and upcoming permit issues that will provide opportunities for gypsum recycling. For more information, contact Sherill Baldwin.
The Patrick-Murray Administration has announced that it will maintain the existing moratorium on new facilities for incineration of municipal solid waste. In addition, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles outlined Governor Patrick's priorities for expanding the recycling of key products like water bottles and consumer electronics, as part of a push to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators. "We are serious about managing the waste we generate in a way that saves money for cities and towns, curbs pollution, and protects the environment for our children and grandchildren," said Governor Deval Patrick. "There are better ways than traditional incineration."
"Focusing on incineration and landfills is the wrong end of the waste equation," said Secretary Bowles. "While Massachusetts is ahead of the national average in recycling and some communities like Nantucket are leading the way, there is a lot more we can do to increase recycling and reduce disposal of useful materials."
The Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has had in place a moratorium on new municipal solid waste combustion facilities since 1990. As MassDEP prepares a new Solid Waste Master Plan, which it is expected to be issued as a draft in early 2010, this announcement specifies that the new plan will maintain the moratorium, but also strengthen it in two ways—by reducing dramatically the amount of recyclable material going into the waste stream, and by developing stringent new performance standards for existing waste-to-energy facilities that require higher recycling rates in waste collection areas, lower emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and higher efficiency in energy recapture. MassDEP will work toward developing these performance standards for the next 10-year Master Plan.
Secretary Bowles noted that anaerobic digestion, advanced biofuels, and other proven types of waste-to-energy technology applied to organic wastes, will continue to be encouraged in the new Master Plan, but that incineration of mixed municipal solid waste will continue to be restricted to existing facilities.
To complement the incinerator moratorium, the Patrick-Murray Administration is committed to an aggressive agenda of recycling and waste reduction that gives cities and towns assistance to expand and improve their recycling efforts and requires greater responsibility from manufacturers for products - ranging from water bottles to televisions - that end up in the waste stream.
The Patrick-Murray Administration's priorities to expand recycling and waste reduction include:
At the same time, Secretary Bowles announced that he has directed MassDEP to suspend review of permit applications for facilities proposing to use construction and demolition materials (C&D) as fuel for energy generation, including the proposed Palmer Renewable Energy facility, until a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of using such materials is completed. This assessment will include a review of potential for emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants related to C&D, an analysis of level of contaminants commonly found in C&D feedstocks, and a review of the most effective means for minimizing, sampling, and monitoring of toxics and other contaminants of concern in these feedstocks. Further, the Secretary has directed MassDEP, in coordination with the state Department of Public Health (DPH), to conduct a review of the potential public health impacts associated with the combustion C&D.
In addition to the great line up of Technical Workshops for the two-day conference and expo, whose details are coming soon, NRRA and New Hampshire the Beautiful are sponsoring a new FULL DAY School Recycling Program on Monday June 7.
This will be the perfect opportunity for teachers, administrators and most of all students to learn how to start and sustain great recycling programs. Not to be missed. These topics above are tentative but will be firmed up shortly. Letters are being sent out requesting workshops presentations for both conferences for topics as well as exhibitors and sponsors. If you have a topic you think should be at the top of the list, a vendor who should exhibit, or nominations for annual awards, please call the office at 1-800-223-0150.
Without a doubt, one of the most compelling details about how the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) came to be is that it started as essentially an agreement – a pledge, if you will – among a group of disparate stakeholders with different motivations and points of view, to do something remarkably good. In 2002, the question put to the CARE founders was, can a group of carpet manufacturers, government regulators, non-profit organizations, and independent collector/recyclers work together to find ways to reclaim and profitably reuse post-consumer carpet and thereby keep it out of this country's swollen landfills? It was a big question, and the decision to proceed involved significant risk for all parties. On the other hand, the potential benefit for the participants as well as the world at large was nothing short of profound.
Fortunately for all of us, the answer to the question was a resounding "yes." The Memorandum of Understanding that established CARE termed it a "voluntary, good-faith, and transparent partnership," designed to "increase the value recovered from post-consumer carpet."
The word voluntary sets CARE apart from similar organizations. No one was forced to sign the CARE agreement, even though every participant to varying degrees had something to lose. Every organization and individual who comes to the CARE table is there by choice. The fact that, given its voluntary status, CARE is actively functioning and achieving significant results is even more impressive. In spite of the roadblocks to progress that come with the current difficult economy, more than 1.3 billion pounds of post-consumer carpet have been diverted from landfills. CARE has certainly played a part in this success.
An important function of CARE is to support the community of independent entrepreneurs who are responsible for the day-to-day collection, processing, and in some cases, repurposing of post-consumer carpet into valuable commodities or new products. CARE works to create healthy markets and profitable climates for these entrepreneurs, without whom the market would be hard-pressed to ensure the success of recycling efforts. The active CARE network of 65 collectors provides nationwide coverage.
Along with strengthening the post-consumer carpet collection network, CARE is also dedicated to finding new markets where post-consumer carpet can be put to use. CARE salutes the efforts of those carpet manufacturers that are dedicating significant staffing and resources into developing technologies that use post-consumer carpet content to make new carpet products. Of equal importance are the exciting developments taking shape where entrepreneurs and inventers are reaching beyond the confines of the carpet industry to find uses for post-consumer carpet content in areas like consumer products, automobile parts, and construction materials. In the past year, CARE has been successful in reaching out to the plastics industry to find markets for the engineered resins that can be formulated from the synthetic fibers recovered from carpet. In the consumer market, for example, those stacking plastic lawn chairs that are so popular at Fourth of July picnics can be manufactured using resins from recycled carpet fiber in place of virgin materials.
MRM, a provider of electronics recycling management services to manufacturers, has won the Plug-In To eCycling's TV Recycling Challenge, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program. The TV Recycling Challenge is a national competition started this year, calling upon television manufacturers and electronics retailers to partner in creative ways to increase responsible recycling and collection practices for end-of-life TVs in 2009 and beyond.
MRM was tapped for the honor over several other programs after being evaluated on the basis of its partnerships, innovation, longevity, consumer outreach, accessibility, pounds of TVs collected, and ability to ensure that responsible recycling practices are followed. In making the award, EPA cited MRM's "wide reach" and "different approaches to collecting TVs, including working with charities and self storage units."
"By participating in the TV Recycling Challenge, companies like MRM demonstrate leadership and innovation in conserving energy and resources through recycling electronics," said Matt Hale, Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "MRM is to be commended for providing people opportunities to recycle, especially at a time when people were increasingly looking for ways to safely get rid of their old TVs."
The Challenge was created this year by the EPA to raise public awareness of the importance of responsible recycling of televisions and to recognize significant achievement by manufacturers and retailers in providing convenient and consistent ways for consumers to safely recycle their old TVs. Overall, since the Plug-In To eCycling program began in 2003, partners have recycled more than 200 million pounds of electronics, including televisions as well as computers and cell phones.
"MRM is thrilled and honored to receive this prestigious award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, recognizing our commitment to properly recycle televisions and our program's success in making it convenient for consumers to do so," said David Thompson, MRM President. "The MRM program is designed to be easily scalable, and in its first three years alone has established some 390 drop-off sites located throughout all 50 states, and we are continuing grow both the number of recycling collection sites and the number of manufacturers who use our MRM's services."
"Panasonic is now celebrating its 50th year in the United States and the creation of MRM is another example of our long-standing efforts to protect the environment in all that we do," said Peter Fannon, Vice President, Corporate and Government Affairs, Panasonic Corporation of North America. "We are immensely proud of this award for MRM's innovative efforts in recycling, and join our founder partners in thanking the EPA for this recognition. Globally, Panasonic Corporation's 'Eco Ideas' initiatives seek to make continual environmental improvements in all the company's operations and activities; and as one measure, Panasonic Corporation expects to have reduced its CO2 greenhouse gas emissions by fiscal 2011 to the level of ten years earlier despite increases in manufacturing output."
"Sharp's dedication to environmental stewardship is a long standing corporate core value that's demonstrated in our products and our business activities – from the world's most energy efficient televisions to the most environmentally advanced factory," said Stewart Mitchell, Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, Sharp Electronics Corporation. "We're proud of the progress made through the MRM partnership and Sharp remains committed to leadership in greener practices and greener products."
"As a founder of MRM, an organization that truly sets the standards in electronics recycling, Toshiba is pleased to see MRM receive this award and recognition from the EPA." This demonstrates first-hand our commitment for a greener earth," said Maria Repole, AVP, Corporate Communications, Toshiba America Consumer Products. "Toshiba Corporation is dedicated to playing a leading role in helping establish a sustainable society as made evident by our corporate program, Environmental Vision 2050. Our initiative places a great emphasis on recycling, which combined with our Environmentally Conscious Products, commitment to greenhouse gas reduction and tree planting philanthropic efforts all lead to an environmentally sustainable future."
MRM, the Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Company, was founded in 2007, by Panasonic, Sharp, and Toshiba - all leaders in green electronics manufacturing and activities. These companies are committed to environmentally sustainable practices in the manufacturing and distribution of their products. MRM seeks to provide a platform for all electronics manufactures and retailers to contribute to the development and management of a sustainable recycling system for electronic products.
The joint venture company was created to meet the needs of consumers for convenient access to electronics recycling opportunities across the country, and to serve the needs of electronics manufacturers for electronics waste processing under a variety of voluntary programs as well as various recycling laws. As MRM takes a collaborative approach to industry participation and offers the most expansive recycling network in the U.S., the company was pleased to welcome Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc., as a sponsor company in July 2009. MRM expects additional manufacturers to join this innovative national recycling program in the near future.
Greener Corners, a public space recycling program provider, has joined forces with the EPA to build education and awareness about the implications of recycling. As part of their comprehensive program, Greener Corners converts a community's recycling tonnage into EPA equivalent factors, displaying tangible results like saved trees and pollution reduction.
Education is a key component to any successful Public Space Recycling program, and is proven to boost community involvement, minimize contamination levels in the waste stream, increase recycling rates community-wide, and reduce costs associated with conventional waste management. The Greener Corners program helps to educate community members by delivering a consistent and widely circulated message on the streets and in local schools and civic centers.
Greener Corners provides a cost-free solution for communities of all sizes looking to increase their recycling tonnage and overall compliance. Program components include:
EPA is sponsoring a video contest that challenges filmmakers to produce short, creative videos that highlight the "Three Rs" of individual consumption: reduce, reuse, and recycle. The agency is accepting submissions for the contest, called "Our Planet, Our Stuff, Our Choice," through February 16.
Entries should be either 30 or 60 seconds in length. The video should creatively promote steps individuals and organizations can take to minimize negative environmental impacts within their communities on the following topics:
The winning submissions will be announced in April 2010 in time for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Awards, up to $2,500 will be given to the top three videos, as well as a special "Student Winner" category exclusively for submissions by persons 13 to 18 years old at the time of entry.