NERC | Northeast Recycling Council
ProjectsCurrentCreating a National Reuse Marketplace for Materials Exchanges Diverting Special Event Food Waste to Commercial Composting Electronics Recycling Coordination Clearinghouse (ERCC) EPPnet (Environmentally Preferable Purchasing) Archive Marketing On-Farm Compost for Sustainability & Economic Viability New York State's Recycling Markets Database School Solid Waste Reduction, Reuse, Recycling, Composting, and Toxic Product Use Reduction State Electronics Challenge – EPA Region 8 Toward Zero Waste as a Practical Strategy in the Construction and Demolition Industry Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse Vermont Business Materials Exchange Creating a National Reuse Marketplace for Materials Exchanges NERC received an EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) grant to conduct a pilot project to develop a Web-based network of eight Exchanges—the Reuse Marketplace Website. This one site will allow browsers to easily search the available listings of the participant Exchanges. NERC has partnered with iWasteNot Systems for the technical components of this project. The project includes:
The project term ends in September 2010. For more information, contact Mary Ann Remolador, NERC’s Assistant Director and Project Manager.
Diverting Special Event Food Waste to Commercial Composting This three-year project, funded by an EPA New England Resource Conservation Challenge Grant, pilots food waste composting at special events. Five pilots were conducted: SolarFest in Vermont, Sysco Food Show events in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Taste of Cambridge in Massachusetts, and a pilot event with Sodexo Food Services, which runs the concessions and catering for Rentschler Field in Hartford, Connecticut. For three of the pilots, materials diverted included pre- and post-consumer food, as well as compostable flatware, plates, packaging, and napkins. At the Sysco food shows only pre-consumer food waste and soiled paper was diverted. This unique undertaking involves the participation of NERC staff, state representatives, special event organizers, haulers, and compost processors. Food waste management plans and case studies of the pilot projects will be posted on the NERC Website. The results of the pilots will be analyzed and documented in a Guidance Document, a unique technical resource for special event planners to implement food waste diversion programs. For additional information contact Athena Lee Bradley, Projects Manager.
Electronics Recycling Coordination Clearinghouse (ERCC) The Electronics Recycling Coordination Clearinghouse (ERCC) was launched in 2010 by the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER) and the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC). The ERCC is a forum for coordination and information exchange among the state/local agencies that are implementing electronics recycling laws and all impacted stakeholders. Both government and non-government entities are invited to join. For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein, NERC Executive Director, or visit the ERCC Website.
EPPnet (Environmentally Preferable Purchasing) Archive NERC has developed a searchable archive of EPPnet communications, by topics. For more information, contact Moon Morgan.
NERC received an EPA Resource Conservation Challenge (RCC) grant to conduct a three-year demonstration project on source reduction, food rescue and diversion, recycling and pollution prevention at Vermont hotels. NERC’s partners for this project are the Green Hotels in the Green Mountain program, the Vermont Food Bank, and the Vermont Convention Bureau. The combined expertise of NERC and the Green Hotels in the Green Mountain State program includes providing each participant hotel with information on how to be environmental stewards, save money, and how to become a member of the Green Hotels Program. Topics addressed with participant hotels include:
For more information, contact Mary Ann Remolador, NERC’s Assistant Director and Project Manager.
Marketing On-Farm Compost for Sustainability & Economic Viability NERC has been awarded a 4-year grant from the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program to provide technical assistance and support to farmers to expand the marketing of compost. Through the project NERC is working with on-farm compost operations in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. Twenty farm operations and state agencies from the four states have committed to work with NERC to assist in developing and implementing the project. NERC and project team members are providing the tools to help farmers:
Project outputs include:
For additional information contact Athena Lee Bradley, Projects Manager.
New York State's Recycling Markets Database NERC is engaged in a five-year contract with Empire State Development’s Environmental Services Unit (ESU) to update and further develop its recycling markets database. The intent of this interactive, on-line database is to help users locate outlets for materials that can be reused, recycled or composted. The database provides exposure to recycling and reuse businesses and helps end markets for recovered materials in and around New York State access the raw materials they need for production. This database allows the user to search for brokers, processors/recyclers, manufacturers, reuse organizations, compost operations, re-manufacturers, or other recycling-related service providers by material type within specific geographic regions. This information is being compiled and maintained by NERC under the direction of ESU. For more information on the project contact Athena Lee Bradley, Projects Manager.
School Solid Waste Reduction, Reuse, Recycling, Composting, and Toxic Product Use Reduction NERC received funding from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Utility Services Solid Waste Management Grant Program to work with schools to reduce solid waste; increase reuse, recycling, and composting; and reduce the use of toxic products.. The project involves schools in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. Through direct technical assistance and support, NERC is providing eight rural schools with the information and training needed to implement programs that prevent water pollution and decrease the generation of solid waste. The project includes:
For more information on the project, contact Athena Lee Bradley, Projects Manager.
The State Electronics Challenge (SEC) is a voluntary program that encourages state, regional, and local governments in the 10 Northeast states, including schools and other public entities to:
Government agencies and organizations participate as "partners" in the program. The SEC provides partners with resources and technical assistance for improving electronics management practices, and offers annual recognition to partners that achieve specific goals. Why Should Government Get Involved? Why Electronics? Electronic products contain a variety of hazardous constituents. Cathode ray tubes, circuit boards, batteries, and other electronic components often contain toxic materials such as lead and cadmium. This growing and changing waste stream presents new challenges and responsibilities in designing and managing products to reduce the environmental impacts associated with each phase of the electronics life cycle —procurement, operation and maintenance, and end-of-life management. Why Become an SEC Partner?
Partners have the opportunity to obtain annual recognition for their accomplishments. Partner-only Resources:
It’s easy and free to become a partner. On-line registration is simple – it won’t take more than 2 or 3 minutes for you to sign-up. You then become eligible for all of the Partner-only resources listed above.
State Electronics Challenge – EPA Region 8 This project will introduce and support the State Electronics Challenge (SEC) in EPA Region 8. The SEC has been successfully piloted in the 10 northeast states. The SEC is a voluntary program that non-federal government entities, such as state agencies, municipal and county government, colleges and universities, and public schools, join as Partners. Partners commit to take action to reduce the environmental footprint of their computer assets, and in return receive free one-on-one technical assistance, Web-based resources, Webinar opportunities, and reporting and measurement tools to spur innovative pollution prevention approaches to managing their computer assets. Specifically, the SEC promotes environmentally preferable purchasing of computers using the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT®) environmental performance standard, improved operations and maintenance of computer equipment (e.g., energy conservation through power management, paper use reduction), reuse and donation programs, and environmentally responsible recycling of computers at the end-of-life. Environmental outcomes, including reductions in greenhouse gases, energy use, municipal solid wastes, toxic materials such as lead and mercury, hazardous waste, and cost savings will be calculated and reported using the EPA-supported Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator (EEBC). For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein, NERC’s Executive Director.
Toward Zero Waste as a Practical Strategy in the Construction and Demolition Industry NERC received an EPA Resource Conservation Challenge grant to implement construction and demolition pilots in three states (CT, NJ, NY) over the next two years. This project will focus on working towards zero waste through source reduction, reuse, and recycling. As part of this project, NERC will work with construction site managers to develop zero waste materials plans; provide on-site technical assistance; document materials diverted at each pilot location; and develop training tips, implementation tools, fact sheets, and case studies. For additional information, contact Mary Ann Remolador, NERC’s Assistant Director and Project Manager.
Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse NERC provides administration and staff support to Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse (TPCH). The Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse (TPCH) was formed in 1992 to promote the Model Toxics in Packaging Legislation. The Source Reduction Council of CONEG originally drafted this model legislation in 1989. It was developed in an effort to reduce the amount of heavy metals in packaging and packaging components that are sold or distributed throughout the United States. Specifically, the law is designed to phase out the use and presence of mercury, lead, cadmium and hexavalent chromium in packaging within four years in states that enact the legislation. With funding from EPA Region 1 Resource Conservaton challenge Grant Program,, TPCH continues its outreach and testing of packaging aimed at reducing the amount of toxic heavy metals entering solid waste and recycling streams. This project addresses and builds on the results of the 2005-2006 TPCH packaging screening project that documented a significant amount of retail packaging containing heavy metals restricted by state toxics in packaging laws. For more information, contact Patricia Dillon.
Vermont Business Materials Exchange NERC has received a one-year grant from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources to administer the Vermont Business Materials Exchange (VBMX). VBMX was first established in 1993 and is one of the original Exchanges developed and supported by state government in New England. NERC has partnered with iWasteNot Systems for the technical components of this project. The new VBMX brochure is now available! VBMX is a founding member of the Reuse Marketplace. For more information, contact Mary Ann Remolador, NERC’s Assistant Director and Project Manager.
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