Rezzi

Sophie Leone • May 22, 2024

We are pleased to welcome Rezzi as a new Supporting Advisory Members to the Northeast Recycling Council

Rezzi started out as a robotics company that aimed to develop robots who would assist in the physical challenge some people may face in taking out their trash. Their robot was particularly aimed toward assisting the elderly and through this avenue they were able to gain nationwide recognition through their appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. During the development phase of their robot, they came across some dire information that caused them to pivot their efforts.


They learned that one of the most pressing issues facing the waste management system in the United States is that landfill space in the US is diminishing rapidly. On top of that, they discovered that in the Northeast region, municipalities will have exhausted all the available landfill space as early as 2030. To help address this issue, Co-Founders Andrew Murray and Nick Balboni shifted their robotics platform to one they have named SmartCan.


SmartCan is a device that attaches to the bottom of residential trash can, one that would be collected from your local garbage truck. The goal of the device is to track metrics to more effectively measure waste generation. The device collects key data like the weight of the trash that is going into these garbage bins on a daily basis. This collection of data will allow municipalities, businesses, and institutions to target areas with high garbage levels and implement reduction programs to help reduce waste. The long-term goal is waste reduction to try and slow the fast-growing landfill levels.


“At Rezzi, we are working to empower those that can enact change to better monitor and track their waste reduction and diversion initiatives. We are excited to join the NERC community to connect with members who are looking for ways to better monitor their on-site waste generation and drive change at the ground level.”


NERC is excited to welcome Rezzi to its team of Supporting Advisory Members. We look forward to helping Rezzi in any way we can and working with them as they grow and expand.


For more information about Rezzi click here

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September 17, 2025
The City of Medford won the 2025 Environmental Leadership Award for Outstanding Community presented by the Northeast Recycling Council, for its innovative work to reduce waste and create a more sustainable waste collection system through the City’s free curbside composting program. “I'm thankful to our team at City Hall, the Solid Waste Taskforce, our consultants Strategy Zero Waste and our volunteers for working so hard to launch our curbside composting program and making it such a meaningful success for our community,” Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said. “This award shows that the work we’re doing in both composting and recycling is having real, transformative effects on how our community thinks about waste and the steps we’re taking to create a more sustainable environment for the future. We are honored to be recognized by the Northeast Recycling Council for these efforts.” Each year, NERC honors a community, an organization, and an individual for their outstanding contributions to recycling education and innovation. This year will mark the 9th annual Environmental Leadership Awards Ceremony, recognizing individuals and organizations who help further NERC’s waste and recycling goals. “Our committee is wholeheartedly impressed by the work of the City of Medford, and how important and impactful that work is for the community,” said Sophie Leone, Development and Program Manager at NERC. “It is a perfect representation of NERC’s mission to minimize waste, conserve natural resources, and advance a sustainable economy through facilitated collaboration and action and we are very excited to bestow the City of Medford with this award.” You can read more about the Environmental Leadership Awards here . And if you haven’t signed up for Medford’s free curbside composting program, you can do that at medfordcomposts.com . Read on MedfordMA.org.
By Resource Recycling September 10, 2025
In the Northeast, recycled commodity prices continued to decline in April-June, with MRFs experiencing an average decrease of nearly 6% compared to the first quarter of 2025, according to the Northeast Recycling Council’s (NERC) second-quarter MRF Values Survey Report. NERC’s 25th quarterly report analyzed data from 19 MRFs across 12 states, excluding two facilities from the average blended value “because they did not market enough commodities within Q2 to provide a representative comparison with other MRFs.” Compared to the previous quarter, the responding MRFs reported average values per ton for blended recyclables with residuals at $82.68, a decrease of 7.74%, or $96.21 per ton, a 5.99% decline without residuals. Thirteen of the 17 MRFs contributing to the weighted average were single-stream, while four operated on a dual-stream/source-separated basis. In the Northeast, dual-stream facilities reported a blended value of $99.74 without residuals and $86.52 including residuals, experiencing decreases of 7% and 7.16% from the previous quarter, respectively. Single-stream MRFs recorded blended values of $95.08 without residuals, down 5.7%, and $81.28,down 8.3%, with residuals. Factors such as tariffs and weak demand have led major waste haulers to adjust their forecasts, anticipating challenges due to economic uncertainty for the remainder of 2025. This dip in commodity prices was reflected in second-quarter earnings reports, with four companies reporting an average year-over-year decrease of 15% in commodity values. Houston-based WM projected a $15 million decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization due to softening demand. However, the emergence of new and upgraded polymer facilities is enhancing processing capabilities, driven by the expectation of high demand for recycled PET. A version of this story appeared in Resource Recycling on Sept 9. Read on Resource Recycling.
August 29, 2025
Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) Publishes 25 th Report Marking Six Years of Quarterly Data