Recycling Council Emphasizes Importance of Supply

Colin Staub • July 30, 2024

Resource Recycling


With industry-wide attention on building up recycled material end user demand, the Northeast Recycling Council is urging materials recovery stakeholders not to forget about ensuring there is adequate supply.


The organization last week published a “Guide to Increasing Recycling Supply,” a resource for stakeholders across the recycling chain. It lays out a number of ways different stakeholders have successfully built up local material supply and covers all traditional municipal recyclables.


In announcing the guide, NERC noted that “supply and demand issues are primary components to recycling market development.” But the organization expressed that the industry dialogue has skewed largely in one direction of late.


“For many years, increasing demand for recycled materials has taken precedence over supply issues,” NERC wrote.


The council in 2023 formed a supply side policy committee aiming to “explore, discuss, and write a policy guide about supply side strategies to increase the supply of post-consumer materials to the marketplace.” The new publication is the result of that process.

A majority of the Northeast U.S.-focused guide’s case studies are government-led strategies to increase supply, but it also highlights efforts spearheaded by nonprofits, MRF operators and, in areas with container deposit systems, redemption centers.


It points to Prince George’s County’s public outreach campaign in Maryland, which included bilingual communication efforts in high-contamination service areas where county officials theorized a language barrier was hampering proper recycling practices. The case study provides several lessons county regulators learned from the campaign. For instance, when trying to reach non-English speaking residents, recycling staffers had to get creative: “Attending school meetings to promote proper recycling did not necessarily work because non-English speaking residents were not attending the school meetings, hence, the decision was to visit local supermarkets where parents shop.”

In another example, the guide highlights efforts by the Massachusetts state recycling organization, MassRecycle, to counter the “negative influence of recycling misinformation in the media.” This came after a wave of public attention on problems within the recycling world in 2022, including from a Greenpeace report and the resulting coverage in an NPR story. MassRecycle was concerned the news coverage would mislead local residents into believing the bulk of their recyclables were not being correctly processed, so the organization began a coordinated effort to respond.


“Media stories implying that recycling is landfilled led to the need for professionals to defend both recycling and their personal roles,” the organization wrote in the case study.


That effort included MassRecycle board members giving media interviews with a formulated approach: They would vet the media outlet to ensure they felt it would provide a balanced article, they would avoid acronyms, they would clearly lay out industry background information, and they would limit their discussion to recycling within Massachusetts.


NERC says the supply guide will be a living resource that will expand as more case studies come in.


To read the full article click here

Share Post

February 28, 2025
A Time to Learn, Reflect, and Celebrate
February 20, 2025
As a leader in sustainability, RecycleMe has become an expert in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Globally, they are relied upon by leading brands to help them achieve sustainable product packaging with top-tier EPR consulting. This expertise is fueled by their four guiding principles: Innovation, Sustainability, Global Best Practices, and Teamwork. As an innovator, RecycleMe ensures its team of experts remains ahead of the curve, using the latest solutions when working with their clients to meet their needs at the highest level. Conserving resources and closing loops is a longstanding leading commitment of theirs. By keeping those commitments at the forefront, sustainability is always at the foundation of their work. Recycle ME has locations in 10 countries worldwide, allowing them to build a strong global community network. NERC is excited to welcome RecycleMe to its team of Advisory Members. We look forward to working with them and supporting their extensive engagement and dedication to sustainable practices. For more information on RecycleMe click here.
By Megan Fontes February 11, 2025
NERC’s Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) Commodity Values Survey Report for the period October - December 2024 showed a drop in the average commodity price for Q4. The average value of all commodities decreased by 23% without residuals and 26% with residuals compared to last quarter. Single stream decreased by 28% without residuals and 32% with residuals, while dual stream / source separated decreased by 15% without residuals and 17% with residuals compared to last quarter. This is the 23rd quarterly report in NERC’s series of reports on the market value of commodities from MRFs in the Northeast. This report includes information from twelve (12) states with the addition of Connecticut: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia. The number of participating MRFs increased from 15 to 19 as compared to last quarter. These survey results reflect the differing laws and collection options in the participating states. Five of the states included in this report have beverage container deposit laws. As a result, fewer glass bottles, PET bottles and aluminum cans are processed in MRFs in those states. Those MRFs are also likely to have less revenue from those recyclables. In addition, the report reflects a mix of single stream, dual stream, and source separation to collect recyclables with single stream being the most common approach. The type of collection used will have an impact on MRF design and operation. Thus, the data from this report reflects the unique blend of facilities and statewide laws in the reporting states. Residual refers to the incoming material that cannot be marketed and goes to disposal. The value without residuals reflects the value of a perfect ton of marketed material, while the value with residuals reflects the value of each ton processed with the costs associated of disposing unmarketable material. Note: In many cases, recovered glass goes to market but at a negative value. This data is not intended to be used as a price guide for MRF contracts. NERC’s database represents single and dual stream MRFs, states with and without beverage container deposits, a wide variety in markets and geographic access to markets, and variety of materials collected for processing at the participating facilities. As a result, it represents the diversity of operating conditions in these locations and should not be used as a price guideline for a specific program. For more information, contact Megan Schulz-Fontes, Executive Director, at megan@nerc.org .
More Posts
Share by: