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October 2021

NERC’s Advisory Members

Distinguished Benefactors

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

Benefactors

Coca-Cola

Samsung

Waste Management

Sustaining Members

  • Advanced Drainage Systems

  • American Beverage Association

  • Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR)

  • Blount Fine Foods

  • BlueTriton Brands

  • Bulk Handling Systems

  • Casella Resource Solutions

  • CLYNK

  • Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, Inc.

  • Council of State Governments/Eastern Regional Conference

  • Eco-Products

  • Fire Rover, LLC

  • GDB International

  • Glass Packaging Institute

  • Henkel

  • Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI)

  • International Bottled Water Association

  • Keep America Beautiful

  • Keurig Dr. Pepper

  • MRM

  • Nestle USA

  • NEWMOA

  • PaintCare

  • Plastics Industry Association

  • Re-TRAC

  • Recycling Partnership

  • Republic Services

  • Reverse Logistics Group

  • Revolution

  • Serlin Haley

  • Sims Municipal Recycling

  • Sonoco

  • Strategic Materials

  • Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC)

  • TOMRA

  • US Composting Council (USCC)

A list of all the logos of our Sustaining Members can be found under Advisory Members

New & Renewing Memberships

Renewing Sustaining Members

Renewing Supporting Members

NERC News

Newly Posted

State Updates

MASSACHUSETTS

Advisory Member Updates

New & Renewing Memberships

Membership is key to NERC's regional and national commitment to sustainable materials management. 2021 continues as a dynamic time with several new members, along with a great show of support by renewing members.

Thank renewing Sustaining Members Republic Services and SSI Schafer. We also welcome our newest Supporting Member City of Newburyport, Massachusetts.  Several Supporting Members have also renewed, and we are very grateful for their continued support:

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 newsNERC Fall '21 Conference Banner

The Conference will be held October 12 - 15 (1 – 5 daily, eastern). The Conference features sessions about the most relevant issues to the reuse and recycling industries.  The virtual event also provides the opportunity to easily network with industry colleagues from throughout the US and Canada.

The following topics will be spotlighted: 

  • Federal Recycling Policies & Environmental Justice Initiatives
  • Leveraging Existing Recycling Infrastructure to Achieve EPR Goals
  • Creating Inclusive EPR Systems
  • Policies to Reduce & Reuse Single-Use Products & Packaging
  • Front of House Food Scraps & Compostable Packaging
  • The Country’s Strongest Environmental Justice Law
  • Ocean Transportation Issues & Impacts on Recycling Markets
  • Reusing & Recycling Solar Panels
  • Global Reuse Markets
  • Business Models for the Repair & Refurbishment of Consumer Goods
  • Reuse & Environmental Justice

Conference attendance eligible for NHDES, PROP & Rutgers NJ CEUs.

 

SILVER SPONSOR
Mattress Recycling Council logo

 

BRONZE SPONSORS

APR logo Casella Logo
DSWA logo PaintCare logo
Republic Services logo

Resource Recycling logo

      Vanguard Renewables logo WasteAdvantage logo

Upcoming Webinars: Jobs & the Economy: Recycling Economic Information Studies, Achieving Net Zero GHGs in the Solid Waste Industry, & Fate of Non-organic Packaging Materials from De-packaging Operations – How Much is Recycled and Into What?

Achieving Net Zero GHGs in the Solid Waste Industry - October 19, 1:30 eastern

webinar sponsor logosFinding a successful route to addressing climate mitigation goals as part of solid waste management is critical.  The three presenters will provide examples and context for how leadership organizations have been acting and what those actions have achieved. 

Speakers will be:

  • Anne Germain, Chief Operating Officer & Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA)
  • Abbie Webb, Director of Sustainability, Casella Waste Systems
  • Evan Edgar, Principal Engineer and President, Edgar & Associates, Inc., and lead author of California’s Waste Sector Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Report

Jobs & the Economy: Recycling Economic Information Studies - October 26, 1:30 eastern

sponsor logosRecycling Economic Information Studies provide an exciting window into just how big of a deal recycling is for the economy and jobs. On this webinar, we'll learn about the continuing work that ISRI has been doing on this important topic, as well as the US EPA's most recent national report, and the State of Connecticut's study published in 2021. 

Speakers will be:

  • Bret Biggers, ISRI
  • Juri Freeman, RRS
  • Lawrence Doppelt, EPA

Fate of Non-organic Packaging Materials from De-packaging Operations – How Much is Recycled and Into What? - November 8, eastern

webinar sponsor logosNERC and NEWMOA and are co-sponsoring a webinar on de-packaging operations for processing food waste. De-packaging is growing as a way of making the significant amount of waste from unused packaged food available for anaerobic digestion and composting. During the webinar, attendees will hear from operators of de-packaging facilities. The webinar will cover:

  • How do de-packaging operations work?
  • What are the non-organic materials generated by de-packagers?
  • What happens to the non-organic materials – what and how much is recycled and how much ends up as waste?
  • The impact of de-packaging on organic material and the potential for transfer of contaminants, including micro-plastics

 Presenters:

  • Ryan Harb, Vanguard Renewables
  • Rashi Akki & Dan Woodger, Ag-Grid Energy
  • Eric Roy, University of Vermont

Register here

Board Member Transitions from New York State

photo of John Vanna
John Vanna, NYDEC

NERC is saying "good-bye and thank you" to Terry Laibach for her service on the NERC Board.  She's been a dynamic and engaged member and has contributed greatly to the organization. 

And, we welcome a new Board Member, John Vanna.  John has 28 years of experience in environmental protection and currently leads the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Bureau of Waste Reduction and Recycling. In this capacity he leads DEC’s programs focused on waste reduction, pollution prevention, recycling, product stewardship, and organics. Prior to his current position, John managed the DEC’s Pollution Prevention Unit for many years, overseeing work on the NYS Pollution Prevention Institute, toxic chemicals in products, hazardous waste reduction planning, and green procurement and agency sustainability.

He started his DEC career in positions focused on permitting solid waste management facilities, and reusing industrial solid wastes. Prior to entering the public sector, John consulted private and public sector clients in the area of solid waste management. John is a registered professional engineer in the State of New York. He received a B.S. in engineering from Villanova University and has a M.A. in public policy from the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany.

Newly Posted

Model Supplier Letter Requesting PCR Information

Government Recycling Demand Champions logo

The Government Recycling Demand Champion Program (Program) is an opportunity for state, local and regional government entities of any type, schools, colleges and universities (public and private) to support the recycling economy by buying products with post-consumer resin. The Program offers free technical assistance and training, recognition, and tools to support your efforts.

The Program, offered jointly by Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) and Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), is a companion to APR’s well-established Recycling Demand Champions program.  It is hosted by NERC.

The Program website includes several resources that support the purchase of products with recycled content.  The newest resource is a sample letter to ask vendors to provide information about products with recycled content: Model Supplier Letter Requesting PCR Information

Other resources include:

For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein, Program Manager.

NERC FY 21 Annual Report Published

NERC's fiscal year 2021 Annual Report is now published.  For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein.

sTAte UpdatesMASSACHUSETTS

RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts Compost Site Technical Assistance

To support food waste processing infrastructure, RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts (RecyclingWorks) offers free compost site technical assistance to private, municipal, and agricultural compost sites in Massachusetts that process food materials, or would like to begin adding food materials to their operation. The MassDEP has proposed an amendment that would lower the threshold for the existing ban on disposal of commercial food waste so that it applies to facilities that generate one-half ton per week or more of these materials for disposal. This amendment will drive additional businesses and institutions to divert food material from disposal, creating further demand for composting operations that accept off-site food materials. Visit the RecyclingWorks website for additional composting resources and contact the RecyclingWorks hotline to learn more about our no-cost technical assistance: 888-254-5525 or info@recyclingworksma.com.

Advisory Member Updates

SPC Releases Comprehensive Update of its Centralized Availability of Recycling Study

When Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) initially published its Centralized Availability of Recycling Study in 2016, no comprehensive study of its kind had ever been completed. The research informed and guided meaningful conversation on recycling programs and packaging acceptance for recycling in the years since. Today, SPC releases a comprehensive update of this study.

This study investigates residential recycling programs across 1,950 communities in the United States to gather information on the availability of curbside and drop-off collection programs and the acceptance of 32 types of packaging formats in those programs. 

Understanding the acceptance of packaging in residential recycling programs is one vital aspect in assessing the likelihood that a certain packaging type will be recycled. This information serves a variety of purposes, including guiding improvements to recycling systems, informing packaging decisions, and substantiating one aspect of packaging recyclability claims.

Key Findings: This study found that 91% of US residents have access to either curbside and/or drop-off recycling programs that accept packaging materials. This is a decrease from the 94% of US residents who had access to either curbside and/or drop off recycling programs in our 2016 Centralized Study on Availability of Recycling. 

  • Access to recycling programs varied by housing type; 23% of US residents who live in multi-family housing had no access to recycling programs, while only 3% of US residents who live in single family homes had no access to recycling programs that accept packaging materials. 
  • US residents’ access to recycling programs for specific packaging formats was also assessed. Access to recycling declined for all package types as compared to the 2016 study. 
  • Package formats with the greatest amount of recycling access included: steel food cans (87%), aluminum beverage cans (with deposit 90%, without deposit 89%), corrugated boxes (88%), paperboard boxes (84%), PET bottles (beverage bottles with deposit 88%, other PET bottles without deposit 87%), and HDPE bottles (87%). 
  • Package formats with the least amount of recycling access included aluminum foil and foil packaging (37%) and rigid PS packaging (45%). 

Download a copy here.

Multifamily Recycling Guide & Community Toolkit

There has never been a better time to reach, inspire, educate, and engage multifamily residents and properties about recycling.

The Recycling Partnership’s Multifamily Recycling Guide and Community Toolkit features free customizable resources and templates for communities to use in their outreach to multifamily property owners, managers, and residents.

Sign up for free to access the customizable resources, which include:

  • Infocards
  • Postcard
  • Full-page flyer
  • Door hanger
  • Recycling container illustration set

The included messaging and resources have been tailored to residents and include information on how to use common area recycling locations, door-step collection and/or in-home recycling bin, if provided, according to various multifamily property recycling setups.

To get started, enter your information here.

New Glass Aggregation Site in Massachusetts

Strategic Materials, Inc. (SMI) has recently opened a glass recycling glass aggregate photoaggregation site in Middleboro, MA for municipalities throughout the northeast. Glass collected will go to SMI’s beneficiation facility in South Windsor, CT where it will be processed into cullet for use in new bottles and fiberglass. The address is 164 Everett St, Middleboro, MA 02346 with receiving hours from 8 AM to 2:30 PM every Tuesday. Mixed-color container glass is accepted at a cost of $40 per ton. To schedule a drop off, contact Mike Walsh and Tony Almeida. Drivers from municipalities with a scale should arrive with a ticket showing tare weight and gross weight. Drivers hauling for municipalities without a scale should arrive with scale tickets for the first two loads. Onsite staff will review the weight and take pictures of the glass, which will serve as a baseline to approximate tonnage going forward. Each community will need to provide a current W9 to Tom Syre prior to delivery.

Foam Cycle Outstanding Public Program of the Year Collier County Foam Recycling

It was recently announced that Collier County Solid & Hazardous Waste Management Division servicing one of Florida’s largest counties, won a prestigious 2021 Recycle Florida Today Environmental Sustainability (RFTES) award for its foam (aka Styrofoam) recycling program.

Foam Cycle, a patent-pending foam collection and densifying system designed to be placed at outdoor municipal recycling drop off centers had helped Collier County secure partial grant funding from the Foam Recycling Coalition (FRC) in 2020. Since installing the Foam Cycle system the county has recycled over 10,000 lbs. of foam waste that would have otherwise been sent to a landfill.

Congratulations to Collier County in receiving this “Outstanding Public Program” of the year. 

Foam Cycle is an early stage recycling company pioneering a unique closed loop foam recycling system, to help solve the “foam problem”. Foam packaging and food service foam (aka Styrofoam) are one of the most plentiful, yet least recycled plastics in existence today. Foam Cycle systems can be found operating successfully in several states throughout the country, tackling a global issue on a local level. Foam Cycle’s mission is to remove the myths and stigmas attached to foam recycling by establishing a new model that can be scaled across the country.