Full of Scrap Newsletter- September 24, 2020 |
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Your source for recycling & waste reduction news in the Northeast (and beyond). |
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NRRA's 2020 Annual Meeting (Virtual) |
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Wednesday, November 4, 2020
9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
NRRA will host a virtual Annual Meeting this year as we are not yet able to meet inside as a large group. Members will be able to join by phone and optional video. The meeting will feature guest speaker Dave Cameron, General Manager at OPRSystems, Inc. Based in Wilmington, MA, OPRSystems brokers fibers and plastics for NRRA. Dave will talk about the impact on the recycling markets from COVID-19 and discuss what he's hearing from his buyers about future markets. Members are encouraged to submit questions for Dave in advance for possible discussion at the Annual Meeting to Reagan Bissonnette, NRRA Executive Director, at rbissonnette@nrrarecycles.org.
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Is Plastics Recycling Dead? Not at NRRA |
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Did you know that NRRA helped its members recycle 2,206,857 pounds of plastics in 2019? According to estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency, those recycled plastics had the environmental impact of conserving 1,655,145 gallons of gasoline! To learn more about the other materials NRRA members have recycled and their environmental impact, check out our most recent Annual Report.
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Congratulating Paula Dow for 30 Years of Service to NRRA |
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Check out the slide show presentation we created to congratulate and thank NRRA Finance Manager, Paula Dow, for her 30 years of service to NRRA and our Members! You'll see some great "vintage" photos and some short congratulatory video clips from both current and former staff members. Thank you, Paula, for all you've done and continue to do for NRRA!
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MOM Member/Operations Marketing Meeting Live from Manchester, NH! |
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Welcome back, MOM meetings! Members drove their trucks up, up, up and around the capped Manchester, NH landfill to meet in person for the first time since March due to COVID-19. We had the best view and the best September weather on top to catch up on NRRA news and discuss items! Later in the afternoon, Reagan, Heather, and Bonnie also held a remote version of the MOM agenda for members who could not make it in person. We reviewed the latest in cooperative marketing and purchasing, especially the challenge with marketing #1 PET plastics; summarized the success of the Summer Webinar Series and other items in our Resource Library.
Read More
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Join Us for the Next NRRA MOM Meeting |
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In Person /Traveling MOM Meeting:
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
This meeting will be outside in Gilford, NH. Bring Your Own Chair. There will be a tour of this newly redesigned facility following the meeting.
Meeting open to all NRRA Municipal Members- please bring a fellow recycler.
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Alternative Glass Markets for the Region's Non-Bottle Bill Glass |
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Reagan Bissonnette, NRRA Executive Director, presented on NRRA's processed glass aggregate program at the Northeast Recycling Council's Glass Forum, which was held on Tuesday, September 1 and Wednesday, September 2. She was joined by fellow panelists Patrick Grasso, Principal of Urban Mining NE and Herb Northrop, Chief Operations Officer for Aero Aggregates. Brooke Nash, Branch Chief, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, served as moderator.
NRRA offers options for municipalities to recycle glass into processed glass aggregate (PGA) as an alternative to landfilling this valuable material. This local use of glass reduces transportation emissions and reduces the need to extract natural aggregates, and it can also save communities money. PGA can be used in infrastructure projects, including under roads, sidewalks, and building foundations.
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Processed Glass Aggregate Survey Report |
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The Northeast Resource Recovery Association is publishing a report summarizing examples of processed glass aggregate (PGA) use throughout the Northeast. In June of 2020, NRRA launched a survey to collect examples of PGA use. The survey garnered a total of 18 participants from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Vermont. Among the survey respondents, most indicated they used PGA for municipal projects with few having used it in private projects. There were no examples of PGA use in a state project. Bedding material for pipes, walls or foundations was the most common application of PGA among survey respondents. The year in which the PGA was used ranged from 1978 to the present and most respondents indicated they were very satisfied with the result after using the PGA.
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Recycling, Solid Waste & Composting Trends in NH- Current Issues and Trends |
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Reagan Bissonnette, Executive Director of NRRA, joined a Nashua Regional Planning Commission meeting to present about current issues and trends with recycling, solid waste, and composting in New Hampshire. The Nashua Regional Planning Commission's work is conducted primarily for the benefit of its 13 member municipalities that span the Souhegan Valley, Greater Nashua and Hudson/Pelham area in Southern New Hampshire. NRRA members and members of the public in NRPC's service area were invited to attend this event.
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Tuck Your Worms in at Night: Subpod Food Scrap Composting Setup Video |
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Keene, NH asked NRRA to research two food scrap composting systems in order to reduce the weight that is going into MSW (Municipal Solid Waste). Heather Herring created a video to show how she set up a Subpod composting system using worms in her yard to test the ease of setup, use, and amount of material she can keep out of the landfill.
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Strafford Recycling Roundtable: Sharing data and finding recycling partners |
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Heather Herring, Education Manager of NRRA, joined the Strafford Regional Planning Commission meeting to discuss current issues with recycling, solid waste, and composting with their members in New Hampshire.
The following topics were discussed: Composting set-up in NH; single stream recycling issues, contamination, the human behavior component of recycling, education, and recycling budgets.
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NRRA Thanks Volunteer Madeleine DiIonno |
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NRRA would like to thank Madeleine DiIonno for her valuable volunteer service to NRRA. Over the past year, Madeleine assisted NRRA as a graduate student at the University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy. She volunteered her time to assist NRRA with its glass recycling work, and in particular, its processed glass aggregate program. Thanks to Madeleine's efforts, NRRA was able to provide a number of valuable resources to its members related to NRRA's processed glass aggregate program.
In addition, Madeleine provided support for two upcoming glass recycling projects: (1) a film about processed glass aggregate, and (2) an ArcGIS StoryMap about NRRA's two glass recycling programs.
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NRRA Member of the Month: Changing with the Times with Merrimack, NH |
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If nothing else, the recycling market is exciting! Prices for recyclables go up and down, tipping fees for MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) increase, methods of collecting waste change, and our members change with them. NRRA has worked with Merrimack, NH for the last 20 years and Solid Waste Foreman, Kris Perreault, is active on our listserve. Merrimack has changed from a community that source separated recyclables (residents sort aluminum cans in one bin, cardboard in another bin, etc.) to baling single stream material (residents combine all recyclables into one bin) in a 100 cubic yard trailer to compacting this material. They currently work with NRRA to move their single stream material, as well as scrap metal, freon, electronics, bulbs, propane, and tires.
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The September NRRA Pricing Guide is Now Available |
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Our new website has a section that houses the NRRA Monthly Pricing Guide as well as many other pricing lists. These pricing lists are only accessible to NRRA Municipal Voting Members. If you are an NRRA Municipal Voting Member and want access to this part of the website, simply visit the site to create your new username and password.
September 2020 - Market Analysis by Bonnie Bethune:
Mixed Paper takes a jump up with buyers paying a bit more for baled mixed paper and charging a bit less for mixed paper loose.
“Southeast Asian countries as well as India had steady demand for mixed paper (in August). This is a swing from 2019’s mostly negative pricing for mixed paper, as well as landfilling of the material.”* Domestic demand is high.
Newspaper continues to be the hot fiber item with baled pricing over twice the value of cardboard as “demand outpaces supplies”.
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7th Annual "Talking Trash in Northern New England" |
Friday, October 2, 2020
9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
With landfills closing, waste-to-energy plants reaching capacity, and flattening recycling rates, how will New England’s solid waste managers respond to increasing waste generation? Join EBC, SWANA, NWRA, NRRA, and ecomaine as environmental leaders from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont come together in one educational session to update attendees on the state of the solid waste industry and discuss their state-level waste generation and recycling challenges and opportunities.
This is a can’t miss virtual event!
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Announcements:
- NRRA's 1-800 Number will be taken out of Service Effective 10/1/2020
- NRRA will be closed on Monday, October 12th, in observation of Columbus Day
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NRRA Classifieds
Do you have a job opening you need to fill or used equipment to sell? Submit it to us at info@nrrarecycles.org and we'll share it on our website and in future issues of Full of Scrap.
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Northeast Resource Recovery Association
Epsom, NH 03234
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