Welcome to the NYSAR³ spring newsletter and please let me introduce myself, as I was recently elected as President of the Board. I would like to thank the members of the board (NYSAR³ Directors) for their faith in me to continue the work of many fine leaders and would like to express tremendous gratitude to Kelli Timbrook for her caring leadership and expertise as president over the past four years. Read full column.

We hope to see you next year at the NYS Organics Summit, April 12-13, 2022 in Albany, NY. More information coming soon. Thank you to our Summit Exhibitors and Sponsors!

NYSAR³'s Annual Conference & Trade Show will be moving forward this year as a hybrid event, offering both in-person and virtual registration options! We are excited to offer flexible attendance options to ensure our membership and networks are provided quality experiences and opportunities to expand their industry knowledge.

This is NY’s first-of-its-kind statewide recycling website dedicated to helping New Yorkers easily access recycling related information, interactive tools, downloadable resources, and more. This will be the go-to hub for all New York residents to learn why recycling correctly is so important and how we can improve personal recycling habits. 

Explore the new website and help us spread the word at recyclerightny.org!

For more than two decades, NYSAR³ and its members from the public and private sectors have played a leadership role in establishing environmental initiatives to reduce waste and increase recycling. A key part of that effort includes advancing state level legislation with a two-fold purpose: Promoting public and environmental health and creating the sustainable materials management economy of the future. In a continued effort to address these issues we have updated our legislative priorities for 2021. You can read the full updated list on our website.

New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (NYSAR³) members SAVE $75.00. Click on ‘Add Discount Code’ at the bottom of the online registration and enter 21NYSAR3. Learn more and register at nyfederation.org.

Survey

The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC), in collaboration with Michigan Sustainable Business Forum, is intending to develop a national – virtual – training on diversity, inclusion, and racial equity in the recycling and solid waste communities. To be sure the training content is as valuable as possible, a brief survey has been developed to solicit input from the industry. Please help us by completing this brief survey (5 - 7 minutes to complete) by May 10: Diversity, Inclusion, & Racial Equity Survey

The anticipated start of the New York paint stewardship program has changed from fall 2021 to early 2022. The delays brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic have continued to impact implementation of the new program. PaintCare is awaiting regulatory changes, exemptions or clarification from DEC to allow for oil-based paint collection at retailer sites and solid waste transfer stations, and to determine the rules under which paint will be transported from drop-off sites. Once these are resolved, PaintCare can begin the process to solicit paint transportation and recycling services, recruit retail drop-off sites, distribute contracts to HHW programs, and calculate the costs and fee structure for the program. Read about program here.

In January 2022, the new Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling law goes into effect. The law, which was passed in 2019, governs how organizations must dispose of, or recycle, organic (food scraps) waste. To implement the law, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) proposed adding a new 6 NYCRR Part 350. To learn if this will affect you and your business click here.

40 under 40 honors the next generation of leaders who are shaping the future of the waste and recycling industry. Congratulations to our own Celeste McMickle for this honor! You can read the full story here.

Given the current challenges for so many municipalities in the region, the nation and globally, the City of Troy, Town of East Greenbush, and Town of Bethlehem made a decision to partner on a series of inter-municipal Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) disposal events for 2021. Learn More about these upcoming events.

GLOW is planning to hold its first shredding event in June and in September will once again host a household hazardous waste collections for its residents. Learn More.

See this and more recycling initiatives from the past year here.

Curious about a unique recycling company pioneering a closed-loop recycling system, to help solve the “foam problem”? In our latest newsletter, we share information about how we put an end to Foam (aka Styrofoam) Collection Day events, our Foam Cycle success stories, how your town can get involved and so much more! More information.

CLOSING THE LOOP THROUGH DESIGN AND ENGINEERING! The Circular Construction Lab (CCL) in the Department of Architecture at Cornell AAP houses a design research program that advances the paradigm shift from linear material consumption towards a circular economy within an industrialized construction industry. Through close collaborations with academic, industrial, and legislative/ political partners the lab ensures the relevance of its work and promotes the direct and full-scale implementation of research results towards a more sustainable, low/ no-carbon, circular construction industry. Read full article here.

Stony Brook University researchers are seeking participants in a long-term waste characterization program funded by NYSDEC. The intention is to sample collected MSW and recyclables from a variety of programs across New York State. The purpose is to develop a better understanding of managed wastes in the State, with the ultimate goal of improving recycling processes. Some sampling locations have been selected already but others are being sought, especially in western New York. For more info visit our website.

In conjunction with Stony Brook University - School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, the Evan R. Liblit Memorial Scholarship Fund Committee is pleased to announce the latest multi-part free webinar series focusing on a number of environmental issues impacting Long Island. Learn more and see full schedule here.

Domino's Park response to the pandemic was to set up a Food Scrap Drop-Off program to help the community and ensure food scraps are a resource instead of being landfilled. The park's A900 Rocket composter is composting the program's food scraps dropped off by North Brooklyn residents. Read the full article.

Center for EcoTechnology (CET) is expanding food waste diversion in New York through multiple anaerobic digestion (AD) initiatives. Through an EPA grant-funded Northeast Anaerobic Digestion Accelerator project, CET is working with larger AD facilities and related stakeholders in the state, including haulers and food businesses to increase food waste diversion activity. CET can offer technical assistance through these projects, and those interested should contact wastedfood@cetonline.org or click here for more information.

AdkAction’s Compost for Good (CfG) project is working with organizations, community leaders, and individuals from all over New York State and is focused on helping communities prepare for the upcoming NYS Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law, beginning Jan.1, 2022. They have designed an innovative in-vessel community-scale composter capable of processing up to 50,000 pounds of food scraps per year. The design plans, operating manual and other supporting materials are free and available to anyone, and can be found on the CfG website. Learn more.

FABSCRAP is a non-profit working with the fashion, interior design, and entertainment industries in New York City to recycle and redistribute their unwanted and unused fabric, and they are partnering with instructors all over the country to host monthly Digital Workshops. Focusing on textile reuse and sustainability, past workshops featured topics like Rug Making with Scraps and Mixed Media Embroidery. You can find free recordings of all past workshops and the application to lead a workshop on our website.

The EPA estimates that 85 pounds of clothing gets thrown away by the average person every year. Of that amount, 95% can be recycled. The largest clothing collector on the East Coast, HELPSY partners with organizations and municipalities across several states to collect unwanted clothing and other goods. HELPSY had a solution… set up clothing recycling bins at the City’s Gedney Way Recycling Facility to collect these discarded textiles. By setting up and servicing these receptacles, HELPSY not only saved the city tipping fees (waste disposal and carting fees), HELPSY offered reimbursement per pound for items collected to the City of White Plains… funds that can then go to support other recycling efforts. read full article.

Sustain-a-Cell is a competition run by Wells College that incentivizes students to create cell models using found or natural materials. This years winner was Samuel DalCais. His design was described as elegant, aesthetically pleasing design – good incorporation of both found and natural materials. See the rest of the winning projects here.

Saratoga Recycles Day accepts drop-off for items people no longer want, with the purpose of diverting those items from the landfill. Despite cancellations becoming almost universal, they were able to reshape one of their largest community events in 2020. read more.

Hell’s Kitchen Free Store is a mutual aid project that focuses on landfill diversion and fulfilling needs in our community. It is a shared space for people to leave what they can and take what they need. Hell’s Kitchen locals are encouraged to join in this project. Follow the project on Instagram or find out more. Read full article.

New York City stopped compost/food scraps collection in March 2020. During this time grassroots community movements increased their activity and new operations emerged. However, there is a lack of public community data due to this decentralization. WeRadiate is in contact with community sites collecting "x" amount of food scraps and would like a central location to input data. Public data is valuable to understand the value and impact of composting locally. Visit their website for more information.

518-482-7395 | nysar3@gmail.com | www.nysar3.org