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These webinars are available are open to all. The following audiences are encouraged to participate: municipal recycling and transfer station staff, solid waste operators, public works staff, state and local government officials and staff, educators and community members. New Hampshire solid waste operators will receive one hour of continuing education credit for each webinar for participating.
The Northeast Resource Recovery Association appreciates pets who remind everyone to recycle!Read more
Did you know that NRRA is filming a video about processed glass aggregate (PGA) and how it can be used in road and infrastructure projects? About 65 communities in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts participate in NRRA's PGA program, which enables communities to consolidate their glass bottles and jars at host sites. The glass is then crushed into an aggregate for local use.
Filming took place over three days at and around NRRA's PGA host sites in New London, NH and Rochester, NH. The film will be available this fall and will feature interviews with NRRA members about both their experience participating in NRRA's program and their experience using the resulting aggregate in municipal public works projects. This film with be a modern version of an older PGA film NRRA worked with New Hampshire the Beautiful to produce decades ago.
To...Read more
NRRA participated in the North Country Council's "Solid Waste in the North Country" event on August 19 for a discussion of solid waste management systems, the importance of recycling, and the general management of various types of waste in New Hampshire. The event was held remotely and the speakers included Reagan Bissonnette, NRRA Executive Director , Brian Patnoe, NRRA Board member and Solid Waste Manager for the Town of Littleton, NH, and staff from the NH Department of Environmental Services.
As part of her presentation, Reagan answered the following three questions for the nearly 30 attendees. A summary of her answers are included below.
What are you seeing or hearing in regards to how municipalities have adapted practices in response to COVID-19?
There was much uncertainty in mid-March at the beginning of the pandemic, and some communities stopped recycling all or...Read more
Did you know that July 28 is National Milk Chocolate Day? Our own Heather Herring, Education Manager, recently presented as part of Sustainability Day to members of the Lindt Chocolate Research and Development, Creativity, and Procurement Teams. They requested to learn more about where NH garbage goes and if recycling is really happening today. This young energetic group had lots of specific questions about the recycability of their candy wrappers, plastic trays, and packaging. They are looking into package design for their products and were recommended to consult with NRRA as part of Lindt's Sustainability Report priorities. NRRA was pleased to hear that a chocolate company was working on sustainability from cradle to grave.
To learn more about Extended Producer Responsibility, please register for NRRA's webinar on August 26th !Read more
The NRRA Board of Trustees would like to recognize and thank Lisa Stevens for her years of service to the Board. Lisa resigned from the Board of Trustees in June after serving on the Board for seven years, most recently as Treasurer.
When Lisa Stevens joined the NRRA board in 2013, she was the Treasurer at BCEP Solid Waste District, which serves the communities of Barnstead, Chichester, Epsom and Pittsfield. Lisa was later promoted to the position of District Administrator, which she currently holds. In addition to serving as NRRA’s Treasurer and providing input on NRRA’s budget and previously serving as Secretary, Lisa recently volunteered to serve on a working group of the Board tasked with reviewing salary and benefits for NRRA staff.
“NRRA thanks Lisa for her dedicated service to NRRA over the years,” said NRRA Board President...Read more
UPDATE July 28, 2020: Governor Sununu vetoed HB 1234 today, so the following bills will not become law this session.
The below news article was originally published July 26, 2020.
In the 2020 legislative cycle, numerous bills were proposed in New Hampshire that are relevant to NRRA’s members with respect to solid waste and resource recovery. Most bills were tabled due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see our March 16, 2020 legislative update for details about those original bills), but three were included HB 1234 , in an omnibus amendment that was passed by the the NH Senate on June 16, 2020 and concurred by the NH House on June 30. The omnibus amendment still must be signed by the Governor before these bills would become law. NRRA has provided a brief summary of the three solid waste bills included in the omnibus...Read more
Did you miss last month's free two-part contract negotiation webinar led by NRRA staff and hosted by the NH Department of Environmental Services? The recordings and handouts are available as part of NRRA's new Resource Library , which contains resources for NRRA members and the public, including webinar recordings, videos, and documents on a variety of recycling and waste reduction topics. The contract negotiation webinar description and links to each webinar are included below.
Does your municipality have contracts in place for solid waste services, include trash, recycling, and perhaps even composting? Would you like to understand the purpose and benefit of establishing such contracts and learn best practices for negotiating contract terms?
Join Reagan Bissonnette, Executive Director, and Bonnie Bethune, Member Services Manager of the Northeast Resource Recovery Association to discuss these topics. Reagan Bissonnette is an attorney with a decade of experience negotiating...Read more
NRRA offers a #1-7 baled plastics program for our members, which accounts for 25% of all plastics marketed for NRRA members in 2019. NRRA’s Vendor, Trigon Plastics in Newmanstown, PA, processes 90% of the #1-7 plastics on the East Coast making Trigon the largest buyer of #1-7 plastics in US!
What happens to the plastics once sorted at the plant?
• #1 PET (water bottle) is sold to manufacturers of carpet and clothing
• #2 HDPE Natural (milk jug) is pelletized and made into plastic lumber at Trigon and sold to Casual Living to be made into high end plastic furniture.
• #2 HDPE Mixed Color (laundry detergent bottle) is made into black drainage pipes, garbage container wheels, etc.
• #3-7 (which are mainly #5s and 7s) go to companies in Canada where they capture the #5 polypropylene and some of the 7s.
Here...Read more