Latest News

8/21/24

We are excited to announce that Andrea Folsom, NRRA's Communications Manager, has been accepted as a member of the Leadership New Hampshire Class of 2025. Leadership New Hampshire is a statewide program whose mission is building a community of informed and engaged leaders. Andrea will participate in a 10-month program with a cohort of 38 other associates from across the Granite State who hold leadership positions in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors.

As the Communications Manager of NRRA, Andrea oversees all NRRA communications, including education and outreach. She writes and speaks extensively about recycling and waste reduction, including in state and regional forums. Andrea manages several federal grants from the USDA and EPA awarded to NRRA to help strengthen recycling across New Hampshire. As a Principal Operator through the NHDES SWOT and Certification Program, Andrea believes high quality and consistent recycling education is a necessary component of any...Read more

8/14/24
Do you love recycling? Are you looking for an impactful way to give back to your community? Then read on!

The Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) is seeking new members to join its Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees is responsible for overseeing the financial and strategic priorities for NRRA. Board members also serve as an important source of information and feedback for NRRA’s executive director on how NRRA can best serve its municipal members.

Board members must be a member of NRRA, either through a municipal voting membership or an associate membership. Joining the NRRA Board of Trustees is a great way to stay up-to-date about the latest recycling issues affecting NRRA member communities.

We are especially looking for new board members who have one or more of the following attributes: Are solid waste facility managers, public works directors, select board members, or town...Read more
7/31/24
More than 125 people from across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont joined Thriving Communities Technical Assistance (TA) Providers and federal agencies as part of the Federal Interagency Thriving Communities Network convening at St. Anselm College Institute of Politics earlier this week. NRRA Communications Manager, Andrea Folsom, attended the event on behalf of NRRA to gather additional resources for and share the challenges faced by NRRA's Municipal Members - including the need for more solid waste infrastructure funding for all NH municipalities and cumbersome grant application and reporting requirements - with the federal agencies in the room.

Applying for and managing federal grants can seem particularly daunting for smaller municipalities that may lack the personnel to write or manage grants. More often than not, municipal staff are required to wear many hats to help their community function smoothly. The Thriving Communities Network aims to reduce barriers to...Read more

7/17/24

At the NH Solid Waste Working Group’s June meeting, members heard presentations about mattress and battery extended producer responsibility laws by Daniel McGowan of the Mattress Recycling Council and Todd Ellis of Call2Recycle . NRRA once again welcomed the SWWG to its office in Epsom.

Mattress EPR

Dan McGowan shared that Connecticut, Rhode Island, and California have mattress recycling programs, and Oregon will have one starting in 2025. A user fee is added to every mattress sold in those states to fund the program. The fee in Connecticut is $11.75 and in Rhode Island it is $20.50 for each mattress sold. The fee is based on both the amount of units to be sold and the amount of units expected to be returned for recycling. In Connecticut, roughly two mattresses are sold for each one returned, whereas the ratio is closer to...Read more

7/15/24

The application period for this job has closed. Thank you for your interest!

About Us: The Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) is the oldest and largest cooperative-model recycling nonprofit in the United States. NRRA partners with over 450 municipalities, businesses, and individuals throughout New England to make recycling strong through economic and environmentally sound solutions. As one of only a handful of nonprofits in the country that enables communities to manage their own recycling programs by connecting them with end markets for recyclables, NRRA supports small, rural communities across New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Founded in 1981, NRRA has a deep expertise in the recycling markets, and in partnership with our members, we share that information through education, technical assistance, and cooperative marketing.

About the Position: NRRA seeks an experienced solid waste facility operator for the position of Municipal Recycling Advisor. This position plays a...Read more

7/3/24
Did you know... Not all hot water heaters are made the same. While the majority of hot water heaters can go straight into your scrap metal, some of the newer ones have a heat pump. These are usually called hybrid hot water heaters.

These hybrid hot water heaters have a condenser (like an air conditioner) that makes it more energy efficient. BUT these also contain refrigerant and should be placed with your other items like refrigerators and air conditioners so it can be properly drained. In some cases, these contain more refrigerant than a refrigerator!

HINT: The easiest way to tell is to look for the fan at the top. If it has a fan, then it has a heat pump!

Read more

6/24/24
Earlier this month, our Member Services Manager, Brian Patnoe, had the privilege of attending the Maine Compost School to earn his Compost Site Operator Certification. This weeklong class, which included 16 people from a total of 7 states, covered all aspects of composting including animal composting, leaf and yard waste composting, and food scrap composting.

Over the course of a week, Brian received valuable class time, as well as hands-on activities such as building a compost recipe and several site visits. These site visits included an animal mortality facility , a working farm , a compost company, and a visit to the Farmington Compost Cooperative .

A special note: the animal mortality facility, called Compassionate Composting, specializes in the respectful and dignified pick-up, handling, transport, and composting of horses and other...Read more

6/12/24

Over the past couple of months, the Solid Waste Working Group has focused on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, exploring whether any specific EPR would make sense for New Hampshire in future legislation.

The April 19 th meeting featured an informative presentation about Extended Producer Responsibility by Tom Metzner, Environmental Analyst for the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. Tom talked about CT's experience implementing EPR for paint, mattresses, tires, and batteries, all of which can save municipalities money and improve end markets for these materials.

Tom noted that in CT, thanks to an EPR program managed by PaintCare, 82% of the paint collected is recycled into new paint for reuse. He also shared that paint retailers that volunteered to participate as collection points saw an increase in foot traffic from customers as a result.

Under CT's mattress EPR program, the state...Read more

6/7/24
Over 300 attendees from New England and beyond attended the recycling nonprofit Northeast Resource Recovery Association’s (NRRA) Annual Recycling Conference & Expo on June 3rd and 4th. Operators, town administrators, select board members, business owners, leaders and more came together for two jam-packed days of talking trash and taking recycling to the next level!

The Grappone Conference Center in Concord, NH buzzed with connections as attendees, speakers, and exhibitors networked between the 21 workshops and two breakfast plenary panel presentations over the course of the conference.

This year, we were joined by State Senator Howard Pearl, Democratic Leader Pro Tempore Representative Karen Ebel, and Representative Judy Aron (pictured), who updated attendees on the state of trash affairs in NH. After years of solid waste flying under the radar, it is now enjoying its moment in the sun as Granite Staters increasingly understand the importance of...Read more

5/8/24
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 practices that help take transfer stations, recycling centers, and municipalities to the next level.

Each year, hundreds of attendees come together from across the recycling and waste management industry, including leaders and decision-makers from municipal recycling centers and transfer stations; state, city,...Read more

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