Northeast Recycling Council Spring Conference Returns to Pennsylvania for Dynamic Two-Day Discussions on Sustainable Materials Management

Angelina Ruiz • May 29, 2024

Waste Advantage Magazine

The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) held its Spring Conference from April 30 – May 1 in King of Prussia, PA and offered two days of education, lively discussions, and great networking opportunities. Kicking off the first day of the event, Megan Schulz-Fontes, Executive Director of NERC talked about Earth Day’s focus this year on plastics and how the industry should use this attention from the public to educate and remind the public about the importance of reduction and reuse in addition to recycle, and showcase the amazing work that is being done on materials in addition to plastic. Recycling works best when we see reduction and reuse work together with it. The public is becoming increasingly wary of impacts on their environment and are changing their consumption behavior accordingly. She stressed that regardless of the upcoming results of the November’s election, we need to continue to focus the conversation on the RRR principles and the benefits of incorporating sustainable materials management into corporate strategy and state and municipal policy. Bringing the right people around the table is essential. Schulz-Fontes thanked everyone involved in making the event happen—the development and program manager, senior project manager, board members, committee members, advisory members, sponsors, and attendees. She announced the NERC Annual Fall Conference will be held on October 28-30 in partnership with the Center for Sustainable Materials Management at SUNY ESF in Syracuse, NY.


Day 1: Welcome Remarks and Keynote

Schulz-Fontes introduced Lawrence E. Holley, Director of Bureau of Waste Management for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, who provided the welcome remarks.


Holley thanked NERC for bringing the event back to Pennsylvania and said that the partnership is important. He talked about a study they did recently that showed organics made up most of waste stream, and that recycling processing and capacity is a challenge as collection methods are limited because of access and costs. He pointed out that while source separation has the best marketability, there is no one size fits all. Recycling education needs to be strong to complement your recycling program. He discussed how the future of recycling aligns with DEI, serving everyone while seeing the emergence of different cultures. He explained that at the Department, they have even begun to translate their resources into different languages. PA Dutch in particular is a combination of two languages, and because of this, there is a real need for these resources since there is limited access to internet and other materials. With regards to industry retention, she said that while we cannot compete with the private sector regarding pay, we need to think about how we can make employees feel valued. Holley emphasized the economic and environmental impact the industry has—everything associated with it has value. Don’t count on recycling as a true metric for your program, especially considering the changes taking place and the packaging/EPR programs being developed.


Read the full article here.


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NERC states preference for mechanical recycling

By Waste Today Magazine • June 9, 2025
The Brattleboro, Vermont-based Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) has adopted a policy position on chemical recycling that was developed by a subcommittee of its Chemical Recycling Committee. NERC, whose members are drawn from 11 northeastern states, says the purpose of the policy statement is to articulate guiding principles for environmentally responsible chemical recycling of plastics, which it notes also is referred to as molecular or advanced recycling. NERC's Chemical Recycling Committee was established to better understand these processes and their environmental impacts to make informed policy decisions. In line with its mission of moving toward a more circular and sustainable economy, NERC says mechanical recycling currently is the preferred method of plastic waste processing, as it creates fewer environmental impacts than other currently available chemical recycling processes. View the full article here.

Northeast Recycling Council Publishes Chemical Recycling Policy Position

By Waste Advantage Magazine • June 2, 2025
The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) published its Chemical Recycling Policy Position on May 30, 2025. The purpose of the policy statement is to articulate guiding principles for environmentally responsible chemical recycling of plastics. NERC supports the conservation of natural resources, waste minimization, and recognizes the role of recycling in reaching these goals. Plastic is a prevalent material for packaging and other products due to its material properties. Producing virgin plastic from fossil fuels is an extractive process with negative environmental and social impacts. Therefore, NERC supports reduction, reuse, and recycling processes that displace virgin production in plastics where environmentally preferable. You can view the policy statement here: https://www.nerc.org/chemical-recycling . View the full article here.

Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) Publishes Chemical Recycling Policy Position

By Megan Fontes • May 29, 2025
The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) published its Chemical Recycling Policy Position on May 30, 2025. The purpose of the policy statement is to articulate guiding principles for environmentally responsible chemical recycling of plastics. NERC supports the conservation of natural resources, waste minimization, and recognizes the role of recycling in reaching these goals. Plastic is a prevalent material for packaging and other products due to its material properties. Producing virgin plastic from fossil fuels is an extractive process with negative environmental and social impacts. Therefore, NERC supports reduction, reuse, and recycling processes that displace virgin production in plastics where environmentally preferable. You can view the policy statement here: https://www.nerc.org/chemical-recycling . The Policy Position was developed by the Subcommittee of the NERC Chemical Recycling Committee. Participants on the Subcommittee included Committee Chair Tom Metzner, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CTDEEP); Claudine Ellyin, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP); John Fay, Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association (NEWMOA); Anthony Fontana, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), Retired ; Michael Fowler, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP); Timothy Kerr, Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), Left MDE ; Shannon McDonald, Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE); Chaz Miller, Ex-Officio, NERC Board; Elizabeth Moore, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CTDEEP); Marc Moran, Pennsylvania Department Of Environmental Protection; Michael Nork, New Hampshire Department Of Environmental Services; Megan Schulz-Fontes, Northeast Recycling Council (NERC); and Richard Watson, Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA). NERC created the Chemical Recycling Committee in 2022 with the goal of sharing information on new technologies called “chemical recycling.” The Committee shares information on the efficacy, cost, and impacts of these new technologies. Our Policy is the result of those efforts. The Committee is open to NERC state members and several advisory member organizations whose participation has been approved by the state members serving on the committee. NERC has published several other policy positions including the Post-Consumer Recycled Content Policy (2019) and Product Stewardship and Producer Responsibility Policy (2018), which can be found among others on NERC’s website: https://www.nerc.org/policy-positions-and-statements . For more information, contact Megan Schulz-Fontes, Executive Director, at megan@nerc.org .
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