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New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse & Recycling |
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Kelli Timbrook
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Hello and Happy Winter! I hope everyone in the NYSAR
³ family had a fun and peaceful holiday season. This was my first Christmas with a little one, and as I am sure many of you know, it brings a whole new aspect of joy to the season!
I am honored and pleased to announce that with the start of 2019, I begin my second two-year term as President of NYSAR
³ and fourth two-year term as Chapter 4 representative. Gary Carrel, our Chapter 9 representative in Buffalo, is the new Vice President and Ken Armellino (Chapter 1) and Bodhi Piedmont-Fleischmann (Chapter 3) will remain Treasurer and Secretary. As always, please feel free to reach out to any Board members with questions, contact info can be found on the NYSAR
³ website.
NYSAR
³
is coming into the new year swinging! You may have already seen the 2019 Governor's Budget, which includes language calling for an extended and improved Bottle Bill,
as well as a prohibition on single use plastic bags in New York. These are two key topics that NYSAR
³
has been hard at work on for the past year. We will continue to work with the Governor and the NYSDEC to improve these items and get the maximum environmental benefit. I urge you to reach out to your local representative and encourage them to support these line items in the budget. You can find your elected officials and their contact info here:
NYS Elected Officials
.
Want to learn more about how to approach legislative representatives to effectively and persuasively discuss your agenda with them? Attend one of the NYSAR
³
sponsored legislative training sessions happening this year!
Another notable achievement from 2018 is NYSAR
³'s new and expanded website. We have updated many of the pages with current campaigns and added more helpful links and info about your community and environmental interests. Plus, given the whole website a fresh, attractive new look- take a minute to check it out today!
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On Jan. 13 Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the 2019 Executive Budget will include a plastic bag ban and a bottle bill expansion. The legislation would ban all single-use plastic bags, and the expansion of the bottle bill would make most non-alcoholic drink containers eligible for 5 cent redemption.
Read More
about the governor's proposal, which would aim to help minimize litter, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the environment for future generations.
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L to R: Fuller, Prata, Segal, Scott, Carrel, and Ribeiro
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NYSAR³ recognizes a few outstanding achievers each year for their dedication, innovation, and passion for recycling. The 2018 NYSAR³
Recycling Leadership Awards were presented at the NYS Recycling Conference in Cooperstown on Nov. 8.
Recipients were:
2018 Recycling Leadership, Public Sector
- Gary Carrel
;
2018 Recycling Leadership, K-12 School - Paul Scott,
science teacher at Niskayuna HS;
2018 Recycling Leadership, Private Sector - Maxwell Fuller of Sodexo, and the New Paltz Food Recovery Program.
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Five New York schools received
Green School Grants in last fall's round of funding.
Twice a year the Green School Committee awards "mini-grants" of up to $500 for K-12 schools to help develop programs focusing on recycling, composting, or waste reduction. The winners were:
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The 2019 New York State Organics Summit,
March 26 & 27 at Casa Larga Vineyard, will focus on strengthening regional connections for diverting wasted food and food scraps from disposal and overcoming pressing challenges in the organics recycling industry.
Read More about the event, titled:
"Growing Local Roots."
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NYSAR³
will be giving testimony at the January 23rd public hearing on recycling hosted by the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Environmental Conservation. This testimony will stress NYSAR³'s priorities for 2019, which are generally focused on helping NYS to manage the recycling market crisis.
Per the testimony, NYSAR
³
's legislative and NYS budget priorities focus on p
lastic bags' ban/fee, an e
xpanded Bottle Bill, paint stewardship,
e
valuation of product packaging EPR, e
xpansion of existing EPR laws,
and funding for the EPF. Read the letter sent to Gov. Cuomo on the issue.
Also in the works is a Spring Legislative Training Day in Albany. Details will be released soon.
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NYSAR³ College Council grants, co-sponsored by the NYS Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) and NYSAR³, provide up to $10,000 for projects that focus on source reduction, reuse, or recycling at New York State universities and colleges.
Each College Council member institution is eligible to apply for project funding up to $5,000.
The grant submission period runs from Jan.15 to March 15, 2019. Award recipients will be announced on April 22nd (Earth Day).
For more information and for an application:
https://www.nysar3.org/page/grant-program-for-ny-colleges-28.html
.
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Lorinda Hill, At-Large member of the NYSAR³ Board of Directors and the long-time chair of the NYSAR³ College Council, has recently stepped down from the College Council. The position was taken over by Kate McArdle. Read Lorinda's good-bye letter
to College Council members.
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Several updates have been reported by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation this fall. Read more about:
- The fourth round of grant funding from the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) is being made available to help municipalities across the state address costs associated with the collection and recycling of eligible electronic wastes (e-waste). The NYSDEC will accept applications for these grants during January and February 2019.
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The
"Drug Take Back Act"
calls for the establishment of an industry-funded, statewide pharmaceutical drug take-back program.
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The City of Buffalo has recently sponsored a number of environmentally-friendly community events, including opportunities for public document shredding, special holiday recycling and neighborhood block recycling competitions. Read More about the full roster of events this fall and winter.
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The Otsego ReUse Center, a project of The Arc Otsego, just celebrated its one-year anniversary. Read More about the successful program.
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Know of a workplace cafeteria that could be a little greener? ThinkReuse is currently offering the opportunity to pilot NYC's first app-based reusable to-go container program in a corporate office. Citizens Committee for NYC (CCNY) was recently awarded an EPA grant to implement this pilot program that will save money, reduce waste, and improve the sustainability for the participating cafeteria. For more information or to suggest a site, please visit www.thinkreuse.org or contact Program Manager Rich Grousset at rich@thinkreuse.org.
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Got Stuff? Mike Morone is looking for municipalities within New York State to partner with and host pilot "Give Your Stuff Away Day" events in 2019. These are
fun giveaway/recycling events. So far, a few communities nationwide and one in the UK have conducted "Give Your Stuff Away" type events, (http://giveyourstuffaway.com)
. The most successful one, in Winnipeg, Canada.
If your area is interested in discussing a possible pilot, please contact Mike at (585) 749-5107 or mikemorone@gmail.com.
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The Scarsdale Food Scrap Recycling Program started in Jan. 2017 as a drop-off program for town of Scarsdale residents. Two years later, 12 local municipalities have started similar programs, based on Scarsdale's successful model. Read More about this service.
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A new Food Scraps Transfer Building was constructed at the Recycling and Solid Waste Center in Ithaca to enable efficient collection and transportation of food scraps to Cayuga Compost in Trumansburg. The new building is used to transfer material from Tompkins County's Food Scraps Recycling Drop Spots and county office buildings, and accepts material from commercial haulers. The structure includes a specially designed tip floor that drains and collects liquids and an automated tote dumping and washing station. Funding was partially provided by a NYSDEC Climate Smart Communities grant.
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Covanta Onondaga was recently recognized as the "Business of the Year" by the Partners in Business and Education (PEB), as well as one of the "Top 10 Earth Day Clean Up Crews" in Onondaga County. Read More about the awards.
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Are you interested in receiving recycling and sustainability news, updates, and related events in NYS?
Or maybe you're interested in receiving solid waste regulatory updates, funding opportunities, and solid waste related events?
Sign up for the DEC Delivers
Solid Waste and Recycling listserv.
If there is a public event or workshop related to recycling (organics, textiles, electronics, traditional recyclables, etc.) you'd like the greater community to know about, please email Kristine Ellsworth at kristine.ellsworth@dec.ny.gov and she can include it in upcoming DEC Delivers publications.
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The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC), in association with The Recycling Partnership, will host the first-ever Regional Recycling Impact Workshop to improve the quality of residential recycling programs in the northeastern United States.
Read More about the workshop, offered specifically to recycling coordinators in the NERC region, May 7 - 8, 2019, in Amherst, MA.
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