In This Issue
Upcoming Events
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Conference and Expo
Oct 25 - 28
Minneapolis, MN
More Info
Asphalt Shingle Recycling Forum
Oct 29 - 30
Chicago, IL
The Scrap Tire Research and Education Foundation Scrap to Profit Conference
Oct 28 - 29
Albany, NY
More Info
New York State Recycling Conference and Trade Show
Nov 4 - 6
Cooperstown, NY
More Info
Zero Waste Business Associate Scorecard Training 101
Nov 4
San Diego, CA
More Info
Zero Waste Business Associate Scorecard Training 101
Nov 5
Boston, MA
More Info
USZWBC Social Partner Meeting
Nov 5
San Diego, CA
More Info
The Northeast Recycling Council Glass Recycling Forum
Nov 9 - 10
Providence, RI
More Info
Southeast Recycling Development Council Food Recovery Summit
Nov 16 - 18
Charleston, SC
More Info
Social Media and Environmental Sustainability Webinar
Nov 17
1:30 - 2:45pm EDT
Register Here
Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival
Nov 20 - 22
Santa Fe, NM
Wood Recycling Webinar
Dec 15
1:30 - 2:45pm EDT
Register Here
Please Note

All communication, payables and/or receivables should be mailed to the following address ONLY:

 

National Recycling Coalition, Inc.

1220 L Street NW, Suite 100-155

Washington DC 20005

2015-2016 NRC Board
Stephen Bantillo, Policy Committee Co-Chair
Recycling Certification Institute
California

Gary Bilbro, NRC Vice President, Fund Development Chair and Recycling Jobs Task Force Co-Chair
NewGreen Consulting, LLC
North Carolina

Robert J. Bylone, Jr.
Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center
Pennsylvania

Jeffrey Cooper, NRC Board Chair
AECC Group
New York

Jack DeBell, NRC Campus Council Chair
University of Colorado
Colorado

George Dreckmann
City of Madison
Wisconsin

MaryEllen Etienne
Reuse Institute
Ohio

John Frederick, NRC Liaison to National Standards Certification Board
Intermunicipal Relations Committee COG
Pennsylvania

David Juri Freeman
City and County of Denver
Colorado
 

Bob Gedert
City of Austin 
Texas 

Marjie Griek, NRC Vice President and Membership Chair
Colorado Association for Recycling
Colorado

Brent Hildebrand 
Alpine Recycling and Waste
Colorado

Doug Hill
EcoVision Environmental
Ontario

Mark Lichtenstein, NRC President and CEO
State University of New York- College of Environmental Science and Forestry
New York

Gary Liss, NRC Secretary and SMM Summit Co-Chair
Gary Liss & Associates
California  

Fran McPoland,
NRC Vice President and Policy Committee Co-Chair
Paper Recycling Coalition & 100% Recycled Paperboard Alliance
Washington, D.C.

Michelle Minstrell, NRC At-Large Executive Committee Member, Board Development Chair, and Conference Co-Chair
Virginia

Maite Quinn
Sims Municipal Recycling/ Sims Metal Management
New Jersey

Julie L. Rhodes, NRC Treasurer, NRC Finance Co-Chair, and SMM Summit Co-Chair
Julie L. Rhodes Consulting
Indiana

Antonio Rios
Puerto Rico Recycling Coalition
Puerto Rico
 

Will Sagar, NRC At-Large Executive Committee Member and Business Development Co-Chair
Southeast Recycling Development Council
North Carolina

Lisa Skumatz, NRC Awards Chair
Skumatz Economic Research Associates & Econservation Institute
Colorado

Michael E. Van Brunt
Covanta
New Jersey 

Robin Wiener, NRC Recycling Jobs Task Force Co-Chair
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries
Washington, D.C.

Melissa Young 
Syracuse University
New York

Other NRC Leaders
Cliff Case Ex-officio, Honorary Board Member
Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, LLP
New York

Murray Fox, Ex-officio, Honorary Board Member 
i-ROC
Massachusetts

Terry Guerin, NRC Murray J. Fox Fund Co-Chair 
Guerin & Guerin, Inc.
Indiana

Meg Morris, NRC Murray J. Fox Fund Co-Chair 
Covanta
Massachusetts

Michele Nestor, Ex-officio ROC Chair 
Nestor Resources, Inc.
Pennsylvania
eNews Staff
NRC eNews Editor

Laura Flagg
October 2015
President's Report: 'State of the NRC'
Dear NRC Members,
 
Last year, the NRC continued its steady growth through this period of rebirth, which started in 2010. Before I outline some of our accomplishments, let me once again address the recent attack on recycling by John Tierney in the New York Times.
 
As I said in an Open Letter, which you can find at www.nrcrecycles.org/newsroom, Tierney's effrontery with his "The Reign of Recycling" piece has once again become evident with his feeble attempt to lay waste to the recycling industry.  Whether it's by national newspapers, network TV, or conservative think tanks, attacking recycling has long been a popular way to make headlines. As we recycling professionals know, the overwhelming majority of these attacks are based either on over simplifications of complex environmental issues, or on political philosophies out of step with mainstream America. The idea of bashing recycling is so compelling that 'the evils of recycling mania' is even used as an example of how to get publicity by being contrarian in Jay Levenson's popular 'Guerilla Marketing' series (National Recycling Coalition-NRC, 2000)."

Also at  nrcrecycles.org is a  fact sheet produced in 2000 where the NRC recommended a strategy to respond nationally and locally to attacks on recycling. Today, we understand even more than we did in 2000 about how misinformed attacks undermine the investments, job creation, tax contribution, pollution reduction, and other benefits of recycling.

As a result of the Times article, the NRC is solidifying a partnership with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and in the coming months will host an important meeting in New York City to shed more truth, and talk through all these issues. In addition to people and organizations directly involved in recycling, we are inviting the New York Times  and others representing a spectrum of views. Our intent is to continue accelera
ting the sustainable management of materials across America.

See the rest of my letter on our website.
 
Some other NRC program highlights from the last year:
  • Most importantly, recognizing and helping 
    shape the sustainable materials management (SMM) paradigm by organizing and hosting the first national SMM Summit, bringing a wide-range of stakeholders together at the University of Maryland (see story below)
  • Facilitating important policy deliberations and associated advocacy positions, including endorsing a position about mixed-waste processing facilities produced by the Recycling Industries Coalition, and support of the first Zero Waste bill in Congress
  • Building the economic case for recycling through our recycling jobs initiative
  • Engaging colleges and universities through our Campus Council to develop new curriculum, certification and training programs, and to help develop research and development capabilities to study SMM initiatives and help develop innovative solutions to difficult to recover products
  • Welcoming Pennsylvania--who joined New Jersey and New Mexico--to our National Standards Certification effort in their offering of Certified Sustainable Resource Management Professionals training (Illinois is planning to be certified this year and other recycling organizations are considering how to follow suit)
  • Hiring a Fund Development Coordinator to help raise funds for NRC and to help fund our affiliated recycling organizations
  • Awarding important Murray J. Fox Recycling Scholarships to college students in Indiana
  • Continuing a popular webinar partnership with the Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center
Moving forward, NRC leadership recognizes how important it is to have a targeted agenda for the coming year. To that end, we continue to focus on the following strategic areas:
  1. Clarifying and promoting the economic case for recycling and sustainable materials management;
  2. Expanding NRC's National Standards Certification Efforts and associated recycling jobs initiative (promoting the creation of new jobs, as well as the retention of existing jobs);
  3. Facilitating the implementation of recommendations from the SMM Summit including further development of an action-plan intended to accelerate SMM strategies across the continent, and an important partnership with the US EPA; and
  4. Leading important policy deliberations and positions, and developing an associated advocacy action plan.
Clearly, there are other things the NRC does that will continue to be important, such as supporting the state- and regional-level recycling organizations and the NRC's Recycling Organization Council (ROC), and our renewed NRC Awards Program (see story below). Nevertheless, the NRC will align most of its resources with its four strategic initiatives, and these priorities will permeate through our organization, from how we organize our board agenda, to budget priorities.
 
Let me end by thanking our outgoing board members Maggie Clark, Susan Collins, and Stephen London. We owe these folks a great debt of gratitude. I'd also like to welcome our incoming board members (see story below).

I continue to be solid with my conviction that our efforts in the four strategic areas noted above will help lead to a reduction in discarded material produced, and more recovery of material across North America. For us, that's what it is all about. Won't you join with us on this worthy endeavor?
 
Sincerely yours,
Mark Lichtenstein
President & CEO
NRC Moves Forward with SMM
NRC continued its efforts to assist communities move towards sustainable materials management (SMM) at the 2015 Resource Recycling Conference. NRC VP Fran McPoland moderated the closing plenary session of the conference where US EPA's Liz Resek, Oregon DEQ's David Allaway and Wes Sullens of StopWaste engaged in a dialog to make the link between recycling and SMM.

Immediately following the closing session, Resek and Allaway joined NRC SMM Committee Co-chairs Gary Liss and Julie L Rhodes for a lively discussion at the "SMM Roundtable for RO's and Communities." In addition, Elizabeth Roe of EcoPartners provided information to spur conversation about communication and education, and Betsy Dorn of Reclay StewardEdge (representing the Carton Council) provided information on policies. About 60 gathered in person (along with a few who joined via conference call) for the roundtable which was designed to build on the work of the NRC during the SMM Summit in May -- this time, with an emphasis on where RO's and communities want NRC to play a role in helping them advance SMM strategies, efforts, policies, and programs.

Three questions were posed to attendees:
  • What do local governments and ROs need to transition to SMM?
  • How can NRC help local governments and ROs bring about the transition to SMM?
  • How are these related to EPA's three priority areas to be outlined in their Strategic Plan (built environment, food waste and packaging)?
Though there were many ideas that emerged, the needs brought forward in the discussions centered around defining SMM in a way that recyclers understand their critical role; how we communicate the broader SMM message to average citizens, elected officials and others, to think beyond recycling; how to legitimately measure SMM (beyond only recycling); the need to forge partnerships; and the need for new funding opportunities for SMM programs and projects. Several subcommittees are forming to specifically work on issues that have arisen out of NRC's SMM initiatives to date, including groups that will be planning informational webinars, regional mini-summit events, creating a NAICS specifically for SMM industries, and more. To learn more about how you can get involved in the SMM movement, contact NRC today.

See all the presentations and view the notes from the meeting at: http://nrcrecycles.org/smm-roundtable/.

NRC gives special thanks to the Carton Council, SMART Recycling of NC, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Resource Recycling for their support of the session.
Congratulations!
NRC's New and Re-Elected Board Members


Stephen Bantillo
, Executive Director, Recycling Certification Institute


Robert J. Bylone, Jr.
, Executive Director and President, Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center


George Dreckmann, Strategic Initiatives Coordinator, City of Madison, WI Streets Division




Mary Ellen Etienne,
CEO, Reuse Institute



Bob Gedert,
Department Director, Austin Resource Recovery, City of Austin



Brent Hildebrand,
VP Operations, Alpine Recycling and Waste



Maite Quinn,
Business Development and Marketing Manager, Sims Municipal Recycling



Lisa Skumatz,
Principal Consultant/Research, Skumatz Economic Research Associates, and Econservation Institute



Melissa Young,
Assistant Director, Syracuse University Center for Sustainable community Solutions
Elections for the board were held during the 2015 Resource Recycling Conference in Indianapolis. The new and re-elected members will each serve three-year terms.

New officers will be elected at the next Board meeting, date TBD.
Congratulations to the New ROC Officer!



Sara Nichols, State of Texas Alliance for Recycling
Sara joins ROC Chair, Michele Nestor, ROC Secretary, Kerrin O'Brien, and At-large Officers, Carrie Hamilton and Marie Kruzan.
Murray J. Fox Recycling Scholarship Winners
The NRC awarded four students with Murray J. Fox Scholarships at the recent Resource Recycling Conference in Indianapolis. The Murray J. Fox Scholarship Fund was created in 1994 when Murray Fox, a long-time supporter and member of the NRC, started a fund to provide scholarships to college students interested in recycling. Since then, the trust fund has endowed over $96,000 in scholarships to more than 54 college students.

Three Indianapolis area college faculty and financial aid offices referred this year's scholars. This year's scholarship recipients are:
  • Ryan Hackbarth a senior at Hanover College studying Geophysics
  • Leah Lahue a senior at Hanover College studying Environmental Biology and Secondary Education
  • Gabrielle Vinyard a junior in the Honors Program at Butler University studying Biology
  • Spencer Wesche a junior at Franklin College studying Ecology and Conservation
"The students selected this year have the aptitude and commitment to make a difference with their degrees," says Jack DeBell, NRC Board member from the University of Colorado, wh o manages the scholarship program. "Ryan, Leah, Gabby, and Spencer represent the future of our industry and join fellow scholars in the NRC's Alumni Network, to realize the benefits the Murray Fox endowment continues to provide."

Each student was awarded $1,500 scholarships to assist with their education, complementary admission to the Indianapolis conference, and a one-year membership to NRC. 
 
For more information contact Laura Flagg at Laura@NRCrecycles.org   or Jack DeBell at debell@colorado.edu 

NRC National Award Winners
At a special luncheon at the Resource Recycling Conference in Indianapolis, NRC announced six winners of their National Awards -- honoring counties, companies, organizations, and individuals that led recycling across North America. Congratulations to those that received these awards!
  • Outstanding Recycling Community or Government Program:  Catawba County Utilities and Engineering Department
  • Outstanding Business Leadership - For-Profit Business:  Rumpke
  • Outstanding Business Leadership - Non-Profit Business:  Northeast Recycling Council
  • Outstanding Recycling Organization: Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin
  • Outstanding Higher Education Award:  Michigan State University- Lansing
  • Lifetime Achievement Award: George Dreckmann, City of Madison, WI Streets Division

 

Current NRC Affiliates
We thank our affiliated recycling associations for their continued membership and support! We look forward to another successful year of promoting Sustainable Materials Management in North America together!
  • Alabama Recycling Coalition
  • California Resource Recovery Association
  • Carolina Recycling Association
  • Colorado Association for Recycling
  • Georgia Recycling Coalition
  • Illinois Recycling Association
  • Indiana Recycling Coalition
  • Iowa Recycling Association 
  • Maryland Recycling Network
  • Michigan Recycling Coalition 
  • Recycling Association of Minnesota
  • Missouri Recycling Association
  • New Mexico Recycling Coalition
  • New York Association for Reduction, Reuse & Recycling
  • Association of New Jersey Recyclers
  • Association of Ohio Recyclers
  • Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania
  • Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center
  • Coalicion de Reciclaje De Puerto Rico, Inc.
  • State of Texas Alliance for Recycling
  • Virginia Recycling Association  
  • Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin   
Benefits of affiliation include automatic membership and voting privileges in NRC elections for all members of the state recycling organization, free webinar hosting, and more!  
 
Contact info@nrcrecycles.org for details. 
Zero Waste Business Associate Scorecard Training 101 Courses available in San Diego, CA and Boston, MA  Register now, early bird rates are ending soon!
U.S. Zero Waste Business Council is offering a course to prepare participants for Zero Waste Business Facility certifications and to institute sustainable business policies that reduce waste and save money.
 
These courses will outline the history of USZWBC, the definition of Zero Waste, what are considered to be Zero Waste policies and programs, and provide a detailed explanation of the USZWBC Scorecard Certification System for Zero Waste facilities. The Training also will provide educational resources and tools to help businesses get started (or complete) their efforts to pursue Zero Waste. The course is a requirement for those interested in pursuing the professional Zero Waste Business Associate (ZWBA) Certification; however, enrollment is open to anyone interested in learning more about the USZWBC Zero Waste Business Certification and how to better understand the Scorecard Certification System. An application to the ZWBA program is required to attend the course for those wishing to become certified.
 
San Diego International Airport
Wednesday, November 4th 2015 | 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
3225 N Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92138
A tour of the San Diego Intl. Airport is also included in this course offering
Early bird registration discounts end Wednesday, October 22nd. Additional discounts are available for USZWBC members.
Boston
Thursday, November 5th 2015 | 9:30 am - 4:00 pm
US EPA New England Office, 5 Post Office Square #100, Boston, MA 02109
Early bird registration discounts end Wednesday, October 29th. Additional discounts are available for USZWBC members.
National Recycling Coalition | 1220 L St NW | Suite 100-155 | Washington, DC 20005 | nrcrecycles.org