Latest News
NRRA staff, Board of Trustees, and voting municipal members gathered on Wednesday, November 9 at the Puritan Backroom conference center to celebrate this year's NRRA award winners, hear from three of our exceptional vendors, and vote on the new Board of Trustees slate.
NRRA Executive Director, Reagan Bissonnette, opened the meeting highlighting the thing that makes NRRA so special: our municipal members. Not just a place for community gathering, the transfer stations and recycling centers across the Northeast - and operators who run them - are sites of innovation, making tangible, positive change within their communities. Last year, over 47,000 Tons of waste was recycled - the equivalent of pulling over 21,000 passenger cars off the road for a full year! Reagan also noted the many accomplishments of NRRA over the past year, including the Recycle Right campaign that reached over 74,000 individuals, the Annual Recycling Conference that returned...Read more
NRRA Executive Director Reagan Bissonnette was recently invited to speak at the Solid Waste Advisory Committee meeting hosted by the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. She shared market insights from NRRA's experience as the oldest and largest recycling cooperative in the United States, including why recycling markets are currently down. In addition, she shared information about plastics recycling in light of recent negative news stories from NPR ( Recycling plastic is practically impossible – and the problem is getting worse) and other news outlets based on a new Greenpeace report . While plastics recycling is far from perfect, some of the report's findings are misleading and have been misconstrued by the media, leading to mistrust by the public about recycling. Here are three issues with the report.
Issue #1 : The report says overall, the...Read more
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) has issued the 2020-2021 Biennial Solid Waste Report . The key purpose of the document is to report New Hampshire’s progress toward reaching the solid waste reduction goal to reduce the quantity by weight of solid waste disposed by 25 percent by the year 2030, and by 45 percent by the year 2050. The report provides strategies for achieving the goal, as well as a summary of the Solid Waste Management Bureau activities during calendar years 2020 and 2021. NRRA has compiled some key takeaways from the report.
Solid waste generated per person : NHDES estimates that in 2020, approximately 2 million tons of solid waste were generated in New Hampshire. This equates to a generation rate of 8.0 pounds per person per day (1.46 tons per person per year).
Out-of-state solid waste disposed in...Read more
NRRA staff recently spoke with a member community whose recycling committee and select board were shocked to learn that their community's costs for curbside single stream recycling is now one third more than their cost to dispose of trash. While the community doesn't market their curbside recycling through NRRA, they reached out to NRRA as a trusted resource to understand what's happening with recycling markets. The following information and charts are designed to help NRRA members understand the current recycling markets and share accurate information with local decision-makers in your community.
The Short Answer : The economy is expected to cool off because the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates to reduce inflation. That, in turn, reduces recycling market pricing during a slower economy.
The Details : In an effort to reduce high inflation, the Federal Reserve — the central bank of the United States —...Read more
On October 12, the NRRA staff and Facility Operators from New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts boarded a bus at 8:30am on the Fall Bus Tour. The plan for the day included a tour of the WIN Waste Wheelabrator Waste-to-Energy plant in Penacook, NH, followed by a tour of the newly-updated Gilford, NH Solid Waste Center.
In a follow up survey, it's clear the day was a win for all involved! Participants enjoyed getting an insider's look into how the WIN Waste facility worked: "It was very interesting to see the operations of the place and how we could really have a viable solution to our decreasing landfill space and higher power consumption."
Others commented on how helpful it was to see Gilford's new recycling center and hear about the process of bringing the idea of an upgrade to the town and working through the necessary steps to turn...Read more
NRRA has recently been made aware that many of the towns inspected by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) over the past year have had violations on their facility signs.
It's important for you to check: IS YOUR SIGN COMPLIANT?
Per NHDES rules ENV-Sw 1005.05 (b) , the following needs to be included: 1. Facility Name and Permit NumberThis is your facility name and permit number from your permit.
2. PERMITTEE Name, Address, and telephone numberThis is a tricky one! Often times, the permittee information is different from the facility information. Usually, the PERMITTEE is the Town Office; your permit will have the permittee information.
(NRRA understands that having the permittee information on your main facility sign may be confusing for residents; we have passed this feedback on to the...Read more
Please welcome Brian Patnoe as the new Member Services Manager for the Northeast Resource Recovery Association!
Brian has worked in the recycling field for over 20 years and has extensive expertise in cooperative marketing, education and technical assistance in recycling and waste reduction.
He began his work in the recycling field as a freshman in High School in 1998. What he thought would be a three-week temporary position turned into a lifelong passion. After working part time through high school at the Lancaster Transfer Station, Brian went on to New Hampshire Technical Institute (NHTI) where he received his Associates Degree in Computer Information Systems. He also co-founded the NHTI Recycling Group, helping with the transition from no paper recycling to 1000 pounds per week! In 2003, he started at the Littleton Transfer Station and eventually took over as manager in 2013. In early 2021, he returned to...Read more
NRRA is pleased to announce our 2022 award winners: Marc Morgan, Sami Izzo Recycler of the Year; Scott Hazelton, Volunteer of the Year; and Ivar Martin, Vendor of the Year.
Winners will be celebrated at the upcoming Annual Meeting. Marc, Scott, and Ivar each bring personalized expertise to their work in solid waste management and waste reduction. We deeply appreciate each winners' willingness to share their time and expertise with NRRA and our Member communities!
Meet the Winners:Marc Morgan - 2022 Sami Izzo Recycler of the Year - has worked in the solid waste/recycling industry for more than 25 years. His focus has been the development of recycling and waste reduction programs. For the past 8 years, Marc worked for the City of Lebanon, New Hampshire, bringing with him a waste reduction philosophy while managing the City’s Solid Waste Division; which includes a landfill....Read more
After many months of work and public input, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) has published the 2022 New Hampshire Solid Waste Management Plan, now available on NHDES’ website . The 10-year plan incorporates suggestions received through a public comment period and from the New Hampshire Solid Waste Working Group, which was established in the summer of 2021 to assist NHDES with planning for New Hampshire's solid waste future. Members of the Solid Waste Working Group include NRRA Executive Director Reagan Bissonnette and representatives from NRRA member communities Lebanon, Lancaster, and Keene.
The Solid Waste Management Plan provides goals and actions intended to achieve the state’s overarching disposal reduction goal established in RSA 149-M:2 – which aims to reduce disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition debris (C&D) by 25% by 2030 and by 45% by 2050....Read more