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NRRA’s Premier Annual Recycling Conference & Expo “Next Level Recycling” Registration Now Open! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Epsom, NH – For over forty years, recycling nonprofit Northeast Resource Recovery Association’s (NRRA) Recycling Conference & Expo has been the premier annual event focused exclusively on municipal recycling and waste reduction in the Northeast. This year, the conference will be held at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord, NH on Monday, June 3 and Tuesday, June 4, 2024. This year’s theme, “ Next Level Recycling” will be showcasing new, engaging, and current recycling and solid waste management topics and...

In March 2024, NRRA's Communications Manager, Andrea Folsom, was contacted by fifth grade Salisbury Elementary students who were putting together an Exhibition Project on recycling and were interested in an interview. Andrea had a wonderful time chatting with the students who asked great questions about recycling! After completing the interview, the students used the information they learned to choose an action - a waste-free lunch day where students would reuse and recycle waste with the goal of creating as little trash as possible. The students then presented their interview findings and action in an exhibition presentation. Check...

On April 16 and 17, NRRA teamed up with the NH Department of Environmental Services and the Maine Compost School to host two full days of food waste diversion and composting workshops. With over 70 registrants, each workshop hosted between 30 and 40 attendees from municipalities and businesses across New Hampshire, captured on a map of the state. The workshop series was supported by an NRRA grant through the USDA Rural Utilities Service. The goal of the grant is to reduce or eliminate pollution of water resources by providing funding for organizations that provide training to improve the planning and management of solid waste sites...

In celebration of Earth Day 2024, we are delighted to share a recent speech given by Hopkinton, NH 6 th grade student, Owen Lanman, during the New Hampshire Project Soapbox Showcase. Owen was able to choose a topic he felt passionate about and then wrote a compelling piece. Thank you to Owen and his teachers at the Hopkinton School District for allowing us to republish this piece! Did you know that public schools in the United States produce over 14,500 tons of waste every day ? My school addressed this issue head on. Three years ago we were using styrofoam lunch trays and plastic utensils, and didn’t compost at all . That has all...

With immense gratitude, NRRA sends our heartfelt thanks and farewell to Logistics and Administration Manager, Stacey Morrison, who will be leaving the NRRA at the end of the week for a new position with the Disability Rights Center in Concord, NH. In her 10 years with NRRA, Stacey has helped to shepherd the organization through several systems changes, modernizing our data platforms and expanding our logistics department. Stacey has been a lynchpin of the organization, connecting finance, logistics, and communications. Grace under fire, no one juggles better than she does! Stacey always made everything look so easy and has been a...

Never heard of a pit baler? Well you're not alone! While you won't see them around anymore, pit balers used to be all the rage - just ask Senior Member Services Representative, Bonnie Bethune, who was kind enough to fill us in! As you know, there are vertical balers... and there are horizontal balers for compacting recyclables: But did you know that once upon a time, the Wilton NH Solid Waste District transfer station had a Pit Baler! If you look closely at the floor in the picture, you can see the outline where the archaic baler was! How did it work? The baler sat on the floor like a vertical baler, but the recyclables were pushed...

A message from NRRA Executive Director, Reagan Bissonnette: It was a delight having Juli Heath and Jeremy Gregoire volunteer at the Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) office yesterday, March 28. We are grateful that they chose to volunteer their time with NRRA, and we thank Grappone Automotive Group for its generous donation of $500 to NRRA. We appreciate Grappone’s support of our mission to partner with communities to make recycling strong through economic and environmentally sound solutions. Thanks to generous support like Grappone’s gift of staff time and money, NRRA has been able to support our municipal members...

NRRA held the second of three Summits in Lancaster, NH as part of our EPA grant-funded North Country C&D Diversion 2.0 project, which focuses on bulky waste diversion and reuse; asphalt, brick, and concrete (ABC) recycling; and the idea of deconstruction. The Summit included 34 attendees representing 15 North Country communities, as well as the EPA, NHDES, and Representative Annie Kuster's office. Senior Member Services Representative, Bonnie Bethune, opened with a presentation on two feasibility studies NRRA completed between the first and second C&D Summit. Feasibility Study #1: Asphalt, Brick, and Concrete Recycling in the NH...

On Friday, March 22 nd, NRRA hosted another NH Solid Waste Working Group (SWWG) meeting while NHDES offices continue to be unavailable due to an HVAC renovation. SWWG attendees heard an informative Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) 101 Presentation from Resa Dimino of Signalfire Group. NHDES also shared that it is applying for an implementation grant for the EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program that may lead to future grants for municipalities to improve their waste management. Extended Producer Responsibility One of the SWWG's responsibilities is to "review and make recommendations for changes to the state's existing...

Some people see signs of spring in the return of robins or the tubing and buckets gathering rising maple sap. Others, like us at NRRA, look for the telltale signs that pop up on roads across New Hampshire as the weather warms: Load Limits! But did you know, if your facility is on a road that has a spring road ban - imposed weight limitations to reduce wear and tear on roadways as the ground begins to thaw - you will need to have an exemption letter for waste haulers. If a truck driver sees that a road is posted, they will not be able to service your location until it is unposted unless they have an exemption letter. If you manage...