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NERC in the News

Connecticut, 4 other states funding surplus exchange website

New Haven Register, November 26, 2012

By Luther Turmelle, North Bureau Chief

lturmelle@nhregister.com / Twitter: @lutherturmelle

Connecticut is one of five Northeastern states funding a new website designed to allow businesses, communities, institutions and organizations to facilitate swaps of usable or surplus materials and prevent them from being thrown away.

The website, Reuse Marketplace, was launched on Monday, said Lynn Rubinstein, executive director of the Northeast Recycling Council, a Vermont-based regional nonprofit. In addition to Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, agencies in Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island are funding the website along with contributions from seven companies from the solid waste and recycling industries, Rubinstein said.

"The primary focus of the website is to facilitate business to business transactions, either ongoing or a single time," she said. "But states, municipalities, institutions and organizations can use the website as well."

There is no charge for using the website's services, which include postings of available items, Rubinstein said. While the site facilitates the transactions, the swapping partners are responsible for working out the details of the exchange themselves, she said.

The Reuse Marketplace creates a central clearing house for the swaps, replacing the websites that some individual states have. It includes more than 30 categories of items ranging from agricultural to textiles, as well as more than 60 related subcategories.

Call Luther Turmelle at 203-789-5706 or follow him on Twitter @LutherTurmelle.