The 2017 New York State Recycling Conference & Trade Show runs  Nov. 8 & 9 at the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown, and includes a Nov. 7 pre-conference workshop.  This year's conference theme, "Keeping Cool in the Age of Climate Change: Impacts of Material Management," explores these issues on different levels. Get your personal invitation here.

The  New York Product Stewardship Council, the  Re-Clothe NY Coalition, and the  Product Stewardship Institute will host the New York Textiles Summit on Oct. 31 in New York City. The day-long, interactive event, held at the Fashion Institute of Technology,  will host a broad group of stakeholders, including state/local government, manufacturers, retailers, recycling/reuse organizations, the fashion industry, researchers, nonprofits, and consumers.  This event allows participants to participant through webcast or participate in person. Click here for more information and registration details.

Since all races were uncontested, recent elections for NYSAR3 Board reps in odd-numbered chapters resulted in all positions being refilled by the same officers. This included: Ken Armellino, Chapter 1; Bodhi Piedmont-Fleischmann, Chapter 3; Dianne Woske, Chapter 5; Theresa Evans, Chapter 7; and Gary Carrell, Region 9.  Election of the two At-Large positions will take place at the November Recycling Conference.

Two NYSAR3 chapters reported on recent membership meetings and tours this Fall. Members of Chapter 4, the Capital District area, had a tour and then helped out with a clean up along the Hudson River.  A well-attended  joint meeting of Chapters  7, 8, 9 , which cover the mid and western part of New York state, included a tour of an organics collection farm .

Chris Nobel, left, CFO of Natural Upcycling, displays the 

Dunkin Donuts cappuccino mix used in the digester.

NYSAR3 has two continuing grant programs that support efforts in New York State schools and colleges to start or increase recycling, reduction, reuse or composting efforts. The twice-yearly Green School Grant, (closing Oct. 31, for the Fall 2017 application) offers grants of up to $500 to k-12 schools. The College Grant Program offers up to $1,000. Spread the news.

Andrew Radin, Director of Recycling and Waste Reduction at the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency, was recently recognized with a national award for work with product stewardship issues. Read more about the awards.

Andrew Radin

SYRACUSE - The Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency was recently awarded the Gold Excellence Award in the Composting category  at WASTECON in Baltimore, MD. Read more about this prestigious award from the Solid Waste Association of North America.

The Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation has been recycling foam polystyrene for two years - collecting five tons since the program began. Read more about a  $42,925 grant from the Foodservice Packaging Institute's Foam Recycling Coalition, which allowed the county to expand the collection.

Polystyrene foam is loaded into the densifier.

The GLOW Region Solid Waste Management Committee will mark 30 years of serving the public this year. Read more about how the agency has changed since the first four-county  Intermunicipal Cooperation Agreement  was signed in late October of 1987.

The Rockland County Solid Waste Management Authority recently received approval for a grant that will assist local food pantries in recovering surplus perishables, through the  purchase of  freezers, refrigerators, shelving and even refrigerated trucks. Read more.

The NYSAR3 legislative committee has recommended NYSAR3 collaborate with other water advocacy and professional New York State water organizations to support statewide legislation to reduce the number of disposable textile wipes polluting waterways and clogging wastewater treatment plants. This issue overlaps NYSAR3's interest in reducing waste with theirs of protecting New York waterways.  D isposable textile wipes are labeled as flushable, but they cause significant problems at wastewater treatment plants. It is estimated that the costs, just in NYC, are an additional $3 million annually.  Example legislation was introduced in NYC: check out the text of  Intro.666 .

After a five year hiatus, Master Composter and Master Recycler programs are again active in Schenectady County. Read about the classes, which teach volunteers to become the masters.

For the Fall Anatomy & Physiology course, a Wells College Biology professor assigns students the task to learn about cell structure and function through their creation of a cell model. Part of the assignment is to make the cell models more sustainable through the use of 'found' and/or 'natural materials'. Read more about the  "Sustain-a-Cell" project.

Several new positions have been announced recently, which could be of interest to NYSAR3 members. These include the  new Director of EPA Region 2, Peter Lopez; the new  Executive Director at NRC, Marjie Griek; and a new Leadership Team at NERC .