NERC in the News
At 25, NERC Continues to Address Recycling Issues
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Recycling Markets; February 27, 2012
by Anna Dutko Rowley
It’s been an exciting year so far for the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC). NERC is celebrating its 25-year anniversary this year. The Council’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.
I recently interviewed Lynn Rubinstein, the Executive Director of NERC about what the Council has accomplished. Here’s what she had to say:
RM: How did the council get started?
Rubinstein: NERC was originally established by the Council of State Governments - Eastern Regional Conference (CSG-ERC) in 1987 to:
- Address the growing concern about the millions of tons of municipal solid waste generated and disposed annually in the Northeast.
- Garner support for the diversion of recyclable materials from disposal.
- Assist with market development for the diverted recyclables.
NERC was an affiliate member of CSG-ERC until 2000, at which time NERC became an independent non-profit organization. As an independent organization NERC has been able to focus more directly on its core issues and to represent its mission on a regional and national basis. It has also allowed for expanded private sector involvement and multi-stakeholder dialogue.
NERC’s Board of Directors represents state recycling and economic development agencies, as well as resource authorities in the Northeast. Upon becoming independent from CSG-ERC, NERC amended its bylaws to allow Advisory Members to join as non-voting members, thereby giving interested businesses and associations the opportunity to participate in NERC. The result has been a broadened and strengthened organization.
RM: What are the goals and objective for the council?
Rubinstein: NERC’s goals are to:
- Provide leadership for developing and implementing regional strategies and programs for source reduction, reuse, recycling, environmentally preferable purchasing, composting, and decreasing the toxicity of the solid waste stream.
- Stimulate the supply of and demand for recyclable materials.
- Demonstrate the resource conservation and climate change benefits as a result of recycling.
- Promote and publicize the connections between waste reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, resource and energy conservation, and climate change; job creation, economic growth, and reuse and recycling; and toxicity, waste reduction, and recycling in relation to the economic and environmental health of the Northeast.
- Seek and facilitate partnerships between the public and private sectors through communication, education, research, or technical support.
- Educate the public, public officials, legislators, and the private sector about the benefits of waste reduction and increased recycling in the Northeast.
NERC’s objectives are to promote and enhance waste prevention as the preferred solid waste management option; to increase the amount and quality of material collected and processed for recycling; to support reuse and recycling market development; and to encourage environmentally preferable purchasing.
RM: What has NERC accomplished in the past 25 years?
Rubinstein: Well, of course an amazing amount of innovative and influential work. The following are some of the highlights.
The Council championed The Northeast Newspaper Publishers Agreement, a multi-year, multi-stakeholder initiative that led to newspaper publishers signing commitments to increase the use of recycled content newsprint. A demonstrated increase in minimum recycled content usage in the region resulted.
NERC took the national lead in demonstrating the relationship between jobs, the economy, and the recycling industry. It developed the original methodology for conducting such an analysis and published Recycling Economic Information Study reports about the region in 2001, and updated in 2009.
We founded and host EPPnet -the sole national listserv dedicated to a discussion of environmentally preferable purchasing. It links federal, state, and local environmental officials, and private procurement specialists charged with purchasing green products and services and developing policies for the procurement of these products.
NERC was the first organization in the U.S. to tackle the issue of the end-of-life management of electronics. Among other accomplishments, NERC wrote the first comprehensive guidance document for Setting up and Operating Electronics Recycling Programs. This document has been incorporated into many documents around the country. The Council also collaborated with the Council of State Governments/Eastern Regional Conference to develop model regional electronics legislation. This unique effort resulted in the publication of model legislation in 2006. Since then, the legislation and versions based on it have been filed – and in some cases adopted – in a number of states in New England.
We wrote “After the Disaster: A Guide for Residents and Small Businesses About Managing Debris Waste,” a resource that had special recognition and value in the wake of the many disasters that struck the region in 2011.
NERC conducted the first research in the country into how to safely collect and manage unwanted medications from the general public. As a result of this work, the Community Pharmacy Foundation commissioned NERC to develop the first national guidance for pharmacies on the collection of unwanted medications from the public.
The Council recently worked with 32 towns in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware to promote source reduction, recycling, and composting: the Recycling Makes $ense project.
RM: What projects is the Council currently working on?
Rubinstein: NERC currently has a number of grants and contract funded projects, as well as ongoing programs. They cover topics including e-scrap, green procurement, organics management, recycling market development, reuse, toxics in packaging, C&D zero waste, reuse and recycling.
Increasing Paper Recycling by Businesses in the Northeast is a project where NERC is working with New England–based businesses that are large generators of paper and have satellite offices elsewhere in the Northeast. This includes providing direct technical assistance, site visits, staff trainings, recycling program development, troubleshooting, assistance with monitoring progress, and providing outreach and promotion of results.
The Electronics Recycling Coordination Clearinghouse is another project that was launched in 2010 by the National Center for Electronics Recycling and the NERC. The ERCC is a forum for coordination and information exchange among the state/local agencies that are implementing electronics recycling laws and all impacted stakeholders. Both government and non-government entities are invited to join. Currently, there are 16 state members and 21 affiliate members.
The Recycling Markets Database is another project where the NERC is engaged in a multi-year contract with Empire State Development’s Environmental Services Unit (ESU) to update and expand its recycling markets database. In recent years, it has expanded to incorporate recycling markets information from throughout the Northeast and the U.S. The intent of this interactive, on-line database is to help users locate outlets for materials that can be reused, recycled or composted. The database provides exposure to recycling and reuse businesses and helps end markets for recovered materials.
NERC provides administration and staff support to the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse (TPCH). TPCH was formed in 1992 to promote the Model Toxics in Packaging Legislation. The Source Reduction Council of CONEG originally drafted this model legislation in 1989. It was developed to reduce the amount of heavy metals in packaging and packaging components that are sold or distributed throughout the United States. Over the past several years, TPCH testing projects have demonstrated that manufacturers and distributors must be vigilant about their packaging materials, particularly when sourced from overseas.
RM: When did the Council decide to get involved with setting up recycling conferences and workshops?
Rubinstein: NERC began holding conferences about 11 years ago, and then introduced workshops last year. Until recently, we held two conferences a year, but in the past few years state budget problems have seriously limited the ability of state and local government representatives to travel. As a result, NERC decided to change its model and move to one conference in the fall, and a one-day educational workshop in the spring. Last year was the first workshop – focusing on C&D Reuse & Recycling – and in April 2012 we will be targeting mattresses.
RM: Does NERC see more of an interest in consumers, as well as companies, buying products made with recycled materials?
Rubinstein: Yes, but still not enough. There have been specific national initiatives that have driven some real change in this regard; especially the LEED building program, and EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool).
One of the big changes has been the increased use of recycled content by large corporations, such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi. They wouldn’t be doing this if the consumers didn’t support these efforts. Corporate sustainability initiatives have also resulted in increased use of recycled content. I don’t see any major overt drive by consumers demanding recycled content, but it seems to be happening to an increased extent anyway.
RM: How would you describe the state of recycling in the U.S.?
Rubinstein: It appears to be in a state of change. The transition to single-stream programs, expanded opportunities for specific materials to be accepted – such as aseptic packaging, caps on plastic bottles, electronics recycling - has broadened the opportunities for collection. Initiatives such as public space recycling have also helped. But still the public does not take advantage of all these opportunities. As has always been the case, getting people to participate in these programs is the real challenge.
RM: Does the Council see recycling rates in the Northeast, as well as the U.S., improving?
Rubinstein: Similar comments to those made above. Generally, there are improving rates for some materials, but not all. The more traditional streams – paper, plastic, metal, and glass – are generally stagnant. It’s in the area of new materials (not surprisingly) that there’s real movement. Another area of improvement has been increased access to recycling for multi-family buildings and businesses.
