Cooperative Marketing
NRRA is one of only a handful of nonprofits in the country that operates a recyclables marketing cooperative, which means that we directly connect sellers of recyclable commodities to purchasers of those commodities. NRRA's municipal members produce large volumes of high-quality material. We work with reputable vendors and provide our members with expanded market options and consistent pricing. NRRA also provides a monthly pricing guide for voting municipal members only.
Cooperative Marketing Programs
NRRA offers its voting municipal members access to recycling markets for the following programs:
(Many of these commodities are linked to specification sheets to give you more information about that particular item. Click on any of the hyperlinks provided to learn more. We are in the process of adding more regularly so if you don't see what you're looking for, check back!)
| ♦ Aluminum Cans, Steel Cans | |
♦ Ballasts & Fluorescent Bulbs | |
| ♦ Construction & Demolition | |
| ♦ Electronics | ♦Fibers: Cardboard (OCC), Mixed Paper, News & Office Paper |
| ♦ Glass: PGA and Clean Glass (Jars and Bottles) | ♦ Household Hazardous Waste |
| ♦ Mercury Containing Devices | ♦ Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) |
| ♦ Plastics | ♦ Propane Tanks |
| ♦ Refrigerant (Freon) Recovery | ♦ Scrap Metal & Aluminum (including intact, drained Air Conditioners) |
| ♦ Single Stream | ♦ Tires |
Why Participate in NRRA’s Cooperative Marketing Programs?
The benefits of participating in NRRA's cooperative marketing programs include:
- We use a variety of vendors. This allows us to offer different options for our members, and we screen vendors to make sure they are reputable.
- We are your one stop shop. NRRA can handle all our members’ recycling needs with just one phone call. This saves our members time and energy.
- We handle inevitable marketing challenges. NRRA assists with resolving issues between our members and vendors, such as price, grading, contamination, damage to equipment or facility, and more.
- We provide strength in numbers. The more members who participate with NRRA, the more favorable terms we can negotiate on our members’ behalf.
- We’re not just a “broker.” NRRA takes the good with the bad and helps educate members on how to be more efficient and how to maximize their returns on recycling.
- We’re here for you in good times and bad. NRRA isn’t just available to our members when the markets are good. We’re here when the markets are down as well. (We likewise need our members to market with us in both the good and bad times.)
Where Do Our Materials Go?
Recently, NRRA surveyed its vendors and asked what end products are made from the recyclable material they purchase from NRRA’s members. Some examples of items being manufactured include the following:
- Water bottles and milk jugs are formed into poly lumber for plastic furniture in Pennsylvania.
- Lead-acid batteries are broken down and made into new lead-acid batteries at smelters in South Carolina, Missouri and Indiana. The acid is neutralized or made into detergents.
- Steel cans are re-processed into solid slabs of steel and then cut into flat rolled steel coil. This can be used in the automotive, appliance and construction industries.
- Aluminum cans are shredded into smaller pieces and go through a process to remove the paint in Ontario and the US. The hot shreds are blown into a furnace and are made into new cans. This process can be done indefinitely, which is why aluminum cans are such a desirable material. They don’t degrade into a lower level product with each fabrication.
- Cardboard and mixed paper go to Vermont and are transformed into rolls of boxboard. Rolls are then sent to a folding plant in Quebec and then shipped throughout North America.