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NERC's News

Recycling Business Assistance Guide Updated: Previiously updated in 2005, the Recycling Business Assistance Guide for the Northeast States, has been completely updated – thanks to a grant from the USDA. The guide is a comprehensive compendium of business resources available to start-up and expanding recycling businesses in the Northeast states.

The State Electronics Challenge Northeast Pilot welcomes its thirteenth partner: SUNY Fredonia.

A History of NERC:
For a small organization, NERC can boast an amazing series of accomplishments over the past 20 years. Read about our history in this article, created especially for NERC's 20th anniversary. Also, take a look at photos from NERC's 20th anniversary celebration.

Recycling Makes Sen$e: With U.S. Department of Agriculture funding, NERC is developing recycling toolkits for towns, businesses, and schools in nine Northeast states.

A new fact sheet and overview PowerPoint presentation explain the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT™)

Check out our latest
E-Mail Bulletin

WasteWise

NERC Celebrates 20 Years
of Uniting the Ten Northeastern States
for Environmentally Sustainable
Materials Management

Most Recent Update: May 9, 2008

New York Recycling Markets Database Now On Line

Empire State Development (ESD), New York State’s lead economic development agency, has launched an on-line, searchable database of recycling markets. The database is available to the public on the ESD Web site without charge at www.empire.state.ny.us/recycle.

The Recycling Markets Database includes information about collectors, brokers, processors, and end-users of recyclables, as well as reuse and remanufacturing organizations in New York, the Northeast U.S., and Eastern Canada. Users can search by material type within select geographic regions. Lists of recycling markets are then easily exported to Word or Excel files.

The information in the New York Recycling Markets Database is collected by NERC under a five-year contract with Empire State Development. While the goal is to provide comprehensive and current recycling market information, some recyclers have not yet been captured. Users are encouraged to contact NERC’s Project Manager, Athena Bradley, or the Environmental Services Unit at ESD to propose corrections and additions.

Being listed on this database does not constitute an endorsement by NERC or ESD. The information is provided solely to help identify possible, viable recycling outlets.

Green Procurement of Electronics – Report on Impact in New England

For the past two years, NERC has worked with institutional purchasers in New England to promote source reduction, pollution prevention, and increase the use of recycled materials through the environmentally preferable purchasing of computers by public and private sector institutional purchasers. This project specifically promoted the use of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT™). The project was funded by a grant to NERC from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency New England, Source Reduction Assistance Program. A report on the project and its environmental results is now available.

As part of the project, NERC launched an outreach campaign targeting institutional purchasers that included teleconferences, direct contact, technical assistance, and presentations to target audiences. Resources were developed for purchasers and information technology staff about EPEAT™, including a Fact Sheet, PowerPoint presentations, model procurement language, and calculations of the environmental benefits of purchasing EPEAT™ -registered computer products.

NERC’s outreach campaign reached over 1,400 individuals in state government, businesses, and colleges and universities nationwide, and almost 850 in New England alone. While it is difficult to measure the direct impact of this outreach on specific procurements, NERC is confident that its efforts raised the level of awareness about EPEAT™, and in some cases influenced purchasing decisions and the incorporation of EPEAT™ into procurement specifications. Maine and Massachusetts are highlighted in the report due to their commitment to EPEAT™ procurement. These two states purchased almost 80,000 computer units in 2007, 75% of which were EPEAT™- qualified. The report provides details about the environmental impact of this procurement, including greenhouse gas reductions equivalent to removing 1,037 passenger cars from the road.

Photos from NERC's 20th Anniversary Celebration

More than 70 people helped to celebrate NERC’s 20th Anniversary on March 18 in Northampton, Massachusetts – including many former Board Members and friends of NERC. Take a look!