NERC | Northeast Recycling Council
NERC Email Bulletin – July 2008NERC Celebrates 20 Years of Uniting the Ten Northeastern States
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Eastern Regional Conference of the Council of State Governments |
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TOPICS
MEMBERSHIP
New Sustaining Members
Renewing Supporting Member
NERC NEWS
- Mark Your Calendar for NERC's Fall 08 Conference: October 28 & 29 in Northampton, Massachusetts!
- NERC's Environmental Benefits Calculator: Quantifying the Benefits of Waste Reduction and Recycling
- Manure Management Education Resources Posted
- Greening of Hotels in Vermont Grant Awarded
- Unwanted Medication Collections – 2 New Case Studies
- New Massachusetts & New York State Electronics Challenge Partners
- Carpet Recycling Markets Listing Posted
- Minutes from NERC Board of Directors Meeting Posted
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NERC's mission is to advance an environmentally sustainable economy by promoting source and toxicity reduction, recycling, and the purchasing of environmentally preferable products and services. |
State and Advisory Member Updates are provided as submissions to NERC and may not reflect the policy or position of the Northeast Recycling Council, Inc.
NERC is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
TOPICS
MEMBERSHIP
We are delighted to welcome Electronic Recyclers International, Inc. 
as new Sustaining Members.
In addition, we thank Colling Swift & Hynes for renewing as a Supporting Member.
Thank you!
A hallmark of NERC is the strength of multi-stakeholder involvement and problem solving. This is a direct result of the active participation and support of NERC’s Advisory Members.
To see a listing of Advisory Members and the benefits of membership, visit the NERC Advisory Membership Web page.
The broad spectrum of interests represented by NERC’s Advisory Members and Board Members and their willingness to participate significantly contribute to the unique and important role that NERC plays in recycling in the region.
NERC NEWS
Mark Your Calendar for NERC's Fall 08 Conference: October 28 & 29 in Northampton, Massachusetts!
Plan on spending two days this fall discussing the latest recycling issues with other recycling professionals from the Northeast Region and beyond.
- Recycling Economic Information Study Update
- Industrial Sectors and Progress in Materials Diversion
- Roundtable Discussion On States And Private Industry’s Recycling Initiatives
- CFL Best Management Practices, Collection Programs, and Destination of Mercury
- Changes in CRT Markets
- Plastic Bag Recycling Initiatives
Register now on line.
Lodging: Rooms are available at the Hotel Northampton by calling (800) 547-3529. The discounted rates of $120 for a single and $130 for a double (plus all applicable taxes) are available on a first-come, first-served basis. When making your reservation, refer to NERC to ensure that you receive the discounted rates. Please note that reservations cannot be done online. Room reservations must be cancelled by noon one week prior to your arrival to avoid charges.
For more information about conference registration and lodging, email Mr. Moon Morgan or call 802 254-3636.
For more information about the Conference agenda or speakers, contact Mary Ann Remolador, NERC’s Conference Organizer and Assistant Director.
NERC's Environmental Benefits Calculator: Quantifying the Benefits of Waste Reduction and Recycling
Most of us know that recycling, reuse, and source reduction decrease our reliance on landfills, incinerators, and waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities. We also know that recycling, reuse, and source reduction have other environmental benefits, such as avoided greenhouse gas emissions and resource savings. What we may not know, however, is how to calculate those benefits.
The NERC Environmental Benefits Calculator is an easy to use tool that generates estimates of environmental benefits of a study area (such as a town or business) based on the tons of materials source reduced, reused, recycled, composted, landfilled, or incinerated (including WTE). It incorporates EPA’s WARM Calculator, in addition to information from the U.S. Department of Energy, Steel Recycling Institute, Glass Packaging Institute, U.S. Climate Technology Cooperation Gateway, and other sources.
Tables and Charts generated by the Calculator include:
- Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as a result of recycling.
- Greenhouse gas savings comparisons.
- Energy savings as a result of recycling.
- Energy savings comparisons.
- Selected natural resource savings.
The Calculator is available for free on the NERC Web site, and is usable by any U.S. state, region, county, town, institution, school, college, or business. It is a powerful and easy to use tool that can assist state and municipal employees and others in understanding the climate change impacts of source reduction, reuse, and recycling programs, support market development efforts, and planning for program expansions. And, the output tables are useful in outreach materials, press releases, presentation slides, educational curricula, reports, and articles.
For more information on the Environmental Benefits Calculator contact Athena Lee Bradley, NERC Projects Manager.
Manure Management Education Resources Posted
- Manure Management Handbook for Small and Hobby Farms
- General Toolkit Resources
- Quick Reference Guide
- Sources and Additional Resources
- Manure Generation Calculator
- Post & Plank Structure for Manure Storage
- Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan
- Nutrient Management–SIMPLIFIED!
- Composting for Small Livestock Operations
- Composting Design Guide for Small Farms
- Toolkit Resources Specific for New Jersey
- New Jersey Livestock Farmer Survey: Is my farm environmentally friendly?
- Watershed Map of Salem County, New Jersey
- Toolkit Resources Specific for New Hampshire
- Best Management Practices for New Hampshire Agriculture
- Good Neighbor Guide for Horse-Keeping: Manure Management
- Guidelines & Best Management Practices for Horse-keeping
- New Hampshire Certified Organic Directory 2008
The Manure Management Education Project assists small and hobby farmers to understand and adopt best management practices for handling and using manure. The project is funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Solid Waste Management Grant.
For more information contact Athena Lee Bradley, NERC Projects Manager.
Greening of Hotels in Vermont Grant Awarded
Thanks to a grant from EPA New England, this fall NERC will begin working with hotels in Vermont – in partnership with the Vermont Green Hotels program and Vermont Foodbank - to implement waste prevention and management programs and incorporate environmentally preferable purchasing practices.
The project will include:
- Developing waste reduction and environmentally preferable purchasing plans for each participant hotel,
- Collecting and analyzing data to show the effect and environmental impact of each hotel’s program, and
- Partnering with the Vermont Foodbank to implement food rescue.
Vermont is in the final stages of developing a Waste Prevention and Diversion Plan and expanding the existing network for redistributing perishable food is a priority of the plan. This project will further that goal with food rescue from hotels.
For more information about this project, contact Mary Ann Remolador.
Unwanted Medication Collections – 2 New Case Studies
Eaton Apothecary, Massachusetts, is the most recent host of an unwanted medication collection organized with NERC’s assistance through its Community Pharmacy Foundation grant. The collection took place in Wellesley, Massachusetts in early June. A case study about the Eaton Apothecary collection is now available, as is a case study about the April CVS Windsor, Connecticut collection that was reported about in the May Email Bulletin.
For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein.
New Massachusetts & New York State Electronics Challenge Partners
We’re delighted to welcome two new State Electronics Challenge (SEC) Partners:
For a complete list of Partners, visit the State Electronics Challenge Web site.
The State Electronics Challenge provides an action plan and implementation tools – as well as free technical assistance - for purchasing environmentally preferable computers, power management, and reuse/recycling of computers assets. A data collection form and a calculator tool help organizations translate their actions into measurable environmental benefits such as reductions in greenhouse gases, toxicity, and solid waste generation.
The Northeast Recycling Council is currently recruiting state, regional, and local governments in the Northeast to join the SEC. For more information, go to www.stateelectronicschallenge.net or contact Patty Dillon, SEC Program Manager.
Carpet Recycling Markets Listing Posted
In March, NERC hosted a dialogue between representatives of the carpet recycling industry and NERC Board members, in an effort to kick-start recycling market development in the region for this problem material. One of the results of that meeting is a listing of the known carpet recycling infrastructure in the Northeast. It’s not a big list, but it is now posted on the NERC Web site. If you know of additional listings (or corrections), please let us know. For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein.
Minutes from NERC Board of Directors Meeting Posted
The minutes from the March NERC Board of Directors Meeting are now available. The NERC Board will be holding its summer Planning Meeting in August, and its Annual Meeting will take place on October 30, immediately following the NERC Fall Conference.
For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein.