January 2021
NERC’s Advisory Members
Distinguished Benefactors
Benefactors
Sustaining Members
A list of all the logos of our Sustaining Members can be found under Advisory Members
New & Renewing Memberships
Renewing Supporting Members
- Addison County Solid Waste Management District (ACSWMD) Vermont
- Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority, Connecticut
- News Media Alliance
- New York City Bureau of Recycling and Sustainability
- Southeastern Connecticut Regional Resource Recovery Authority (SCRRRA)
- Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC)
NERC News
- NERC’s Spring ’21 Conference Agenda & Registration Coming Soon
- NERC Webinar Series - Alternative Recycling Technologies, Buying Recycled Training, Depackaging & Commercial Composting, Driving Recycling Markets through Demand, Recycling Markets, and Collecting Organics
Newly Posted
- Recordings & Presentations Posted - December Webinars
- Updated Recycling Businesses in NERC Region using Post Consumer Recycled Content
State Updates
CONNECTICUT
MASSACHUSETTS
Advisory Member News
Of General Interest
Membership is key to NERC's regional and national commitment to sustainable materials management. Thank you to renewing Supporting Members Addison County Solid Waste Management District (ACSWMD) Vermont, Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority, Connecticut, News Media Alliance, New York City Bureau of Recycling and Sustainability, Southeastern Connecticut Regional Resource Recovery Authority (SCRRRA), and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC).
To see a complete listing of NERC's Members and Supporters, as well as the benefits of membership, visit the NERC Advisory Membership web page.
NERC News
Upcoming Webinars - Alternative Recycling Technologies, Buying Recycled Training, Depackaging & Commercial Composting, Recycling Markets, and Collecting Organics
January 12 - Alternative Recycling Technologies & Products with Post-consumer Resin - 2 eastern
Moving the conversation about alternative recycling technologies from speculation to reality, and its role relative to traditional recycling programs and post-consumer resins, is the goal of this webinar. We will hear from:
- Paula Luu, Closed Loop Partners, will describe what alternative recycling technologies are, its role as it relates to mechanical recycling, including market impacts, and the question whether the resins resulting from these technologies “truly” post-consumer.
- Ron Cotterman, Sealed Air, will discuss the company's commitment to post-consumer content and its use of resins (PET) that are both mechanically sourced and from alternative recycling suppliers.
- Mark Agerton, Proctor & Gamble, will discuss its use of polypropylene from mechanical and alternative recycling sources, and the relationship to long-term sustainability goals.
- Craig Cookson, American Chemistry Council, will moderate the webinar.
Silver Sponsors
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January 13 - How to Buy Recycled - A Training - 2 eastern
This webinar will provide purchasing officials, decision-makers, and recycling advocates with information about:
- Why buying recycled is important
- Legislation and content standards
- Making a commitment to buy recycled
- Getting started
- Examples of recycled products
- Price, quality and availability
- Specifications
- Testing
- Contracts, cooperative purchasing and closed loop
- Waste Prevention and Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
- Recordkeeping and evaluation
Presenter Richard Keller, Baltimore County 
(MD) Bureau of Solid Waste Management, Recycling Division, has more than 40 years of legislative, policy and implementation experience in buy recycling programs. He has conducted more than 180 training programs on buying recycled programs and is the author of the Buy Recycled Training Manual.
January 20 - Depackaging & Commercial Composting - An Integrated System for Organics Recycling - 2 eastern
Depackaging is a relative new player in the commercial composting industry, providing a tool for commercially generated food waste - such as unsold and damaged food and beverages - to be separated from its packaging. The food is composted in an anaerobic digestor and the packaging is recycled. In this webinar, jointly hosted by NERC and NEWMOA, we will hear from three industry experts on this topic:
- Debra Darby, Tetra Tech - will lay the context for how depackaging and anaerobic digestion fit into the commercial composting framework and its evolution.
- John Hanselman, Vanguard Energy - will discuss their depackaging facilities and the relationship to anaerobic digestion and on-farm composting.
- Brian Paganini, Quantum BioPower - will discuss their depackaging and anaerobic digestor, as well as the soil amendment manufactured as part of the process and its packaging recycling program.
Gold Sponsors
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January 27 - Driving Demand for Recycled Products – the Government Recycling Demand Champion Program - 2 eastern
Taking action to support the recycling industry is essential - especially these days. A new national program, the NERC-APR Government Recycling Demand Champion Program, provides a simple strategy for closing the loop by buying products with post-consumer plastic recycled content.
Presenters will be:
- Ali Briggs-Ungerer, Association of Plastic Recyclers, will discuss the long-standing APR Demand Champions Program that drives the use of post-consumer plastic resin in the private sector.
- Lynn Rubinstein, Program Manager of the Government Recycling Demand Champion Program, will introduce this new opportunity for state, regional and local governments, schools, colleges and universities to take action to drive the value of recycling markets by buying recycled
This is a national program and all are welcome to join the webinar.
January 28 - Recycling Markets in 2021 - 2 eastern
With the new year, will the recycling markets get better? We will hear from three leading industry experts on what to expect in 2021.
- Joe Pickard, Chief Economist/Director of Commodities, ISRI - domestic and international trends
- Hannah Zhao, Senior Economist, Economic Analysis, Fastmarkets RISI - paper markets
- More Recycling - plastic markets
- Chaz Miller - moderator
Gold Sponsors
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Silver Sponsor
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February 3 - Strategies for Collecting Residential Food Waste - 2 eastern
Composting and anaerobic digestion are great, but first the organics have to be collected. This free webinar being offered by NERC and NEWMOA, will present three models for successful collection of food waste from households:
- Amy Donovan, Franklin County Solid Waste District (MA) – Transfer station drop-off
- Bob Spencer, Windham Regional Solid Waste District (VT) – Municipal curbside and transfer station drop-off
- Phoebe Lyttle, Garbage to Garden – Subscription service collecting curbside organics from households
Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
NERC’s Spring ’21 Conference Agenda & Registration Coming Soon
Along with the New Year, the availability of NERC’s Spring ’21 Conference Agenda will be announced. By January 5, the agenda and registration will be posted on NERC’s website. An announcement about this will be emailed out to you at that time. For more information, contact Mary Ann Remolador, Assistant Director & Event Coordinator.
Newly Posted
Recordings & Presentations Posted - December Webinars
Plastics - A Complex Topic: The Global Perspective - Webinar Recording
Paper Recycling - Opportunities & Challenges - Webinar Recording & Presentations
- Paper Recycling A Record of Success Opportunities - Webber PowerPoint
- Recycled Content in Paper Opportunities and Challenges - Rowell PowerPoint
- Recycled Content in Paper – Opportunities - Challenges - Webinar Recording
All previous webinar recordings and presentations are available on the NERC website. Visit the resource search and select the webinars option.
Updated Recycling Businesses in NERC Region using Post Consumer Recycled Content
A year ago, NERC published a directory of businesses in its 11-state region that process or make products using post-consumer content from residential recycling programs - Recycling Businesses in the NERC Region that Process or Use Post-Consumer Recycled Content “Blue Bin” Materials after MRF Processing . With the announcement of new facilities, this directory has been updated. If you know of any missing companies, please contact Lynn Rubinstein, so they can added.
State Update
CONNECTICUT
Coalition for Sustainable Materials Management
Beginning in September 2020, CT DEEP and many municipalities from across the state joined together to form the Connecticut Coalition for Sustainable Materials Management (CCSMM) and explore ways to reduce the amount of waste that is generated in CT, improve reuse, recycling, organics collection, and other innovative solutions.
The goal of the CCSMM is to find preferred ways to reduce and manage the amount of waste produced in Connecticut that provide system reliability and environmental, sustainable & fiscal predictability.
Four working groups were formed (Organics Diversion, Unit-Based Pricing, Extended Producer Responsibility and Increase Recycling), and each working group met five times. Presentation materials from all of the working group meetings can be found on the webpages linked to above.
On December 16th, the full coalition met to discuss policy menu options developed by each working group. A final CCSMM meeting is scheduled for Jan 5th, 2021, at which time a final report of findings and recommendations will be presented.
MASSACHUSETTS
MassDEP Provides New and Improved Contracting Templates
In December, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) hosted a virtual workshop titled “Best Practices: Contracting for Recycling Collection and Processing,” for Massachusetts municipalities and public sector representatives. The half-day workshop, presented by MassDEP’s consultant, Kessler Consulting, Inc. (KCI), focused on best practices for developing fair and transparent curbside collection contracts and recycling processing contracts. More than 145 people attended the workshop. The Workshop was not recorded but related documents and contracting templates are posted online at: https://www.mass.gov/lists/solid-waste-management-contracts-contracting.
Advisory Member Updates
Thank you to Our Recycling Employees
USA Hauling & Recycling has created a special video tribute to thank essential workers in a difficult moment in history. It is truly applicable to the entire waste industry. Enjoy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZzr_sJQoyc
PaintCare Job Openings in Region
PaintCare is seeking a Program Manager and Coordinator for New York Program. It is seeking qualified candidates including a Program Manager and one or more Program Coordinators to implement the New York PaintCare program and will consider candidates with various levels of experience and located in different regions of the state. The program manager will be responsible for developing, implementing and overseeing the operations of the New York PaintCare program. Program coordinators will assist with program implementation, including developing partnerships with program stakeholders and identifying, recruiting, and training paint drop-off locations.
Pozzotive® Manufacturing Plant Opens in Beacon Falls, CT
Urban Mining CT has started large-scale production of Pozzotive®, an environmentally-responsible ground glass pozzolan, with the opening of its first large-scale plant in Beacon Falls, CT. This plant will produce over 50,000 tons of Pozzotive® annually, bringing sustainable building product solutions to the region and creating new manufacturing jobs in Connecticut.
Pozzotive® is a pozzolan and industrial filler made from 100% recycled post-consumer glass (including glass source from recycling facilities). It is a safer, sustainable and higher-performing material that dramatically reduces embodied CO2 emissions in concrete.
Pozzotive® helps to solves a critical recycling problem: the abundance of unused post-consumer glass that is choking state and regional recycling streams and taking up valuable landfill space. In the U.S., glass bottle manufacturers recovered less than 1/3 of the post-consumer glass generated. This new facility will help address this glass crisis by utilizing 100% post-consumer glass as feedstock, regardless of color, size, presence of ceramics or cleanliness. The Pozzotive facility is authorized by CT DEEP to take in approximately 87,500 tons per year of post-consumer glass.
To learn more about Pozzotive®, visit www.pozzotive.com.
Of General Interest
New Recycling Markets Listserv Launched
As you may know, JTRnet has been retired. This long-standing national listserv hosted by EPA has provided a critical link for recycling market information exchange around the nation. Fortunately, the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) is providing a new listserv to address the need - Recycling Markets - NRC
To sign up go to: https://groups.google.com/g/recyclingmarkets-nrc
You need to request permission to join, which includes providing a brief explanation of “why”. Gary Liss is the group manager. If you have questions, he can be emailed at gary@garyliss.com or garyliss@mindspring.com.