Latest News
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
Welcome to the 41st NRRA Annual Meeting!
All members are cordially invited to join the trustees and staff of NRRA for the Annual Meeting and Luncheon on Wednesday, November 9 from 12-2pm at the Puritan Backroom Restaurant.
This year, we will hear from NRRA Vendors as they tackle the top three commodities that affect everyday operations: Plastics, Fibers, and Glass recycling. We are also excited to celebrate the accomplishments of our members and vendors over the past year with our awards presentation. Finally, members will vote on renewing members for NRRA's Board of Trustees.
The NRRA is your organization, so please plan to attend or send a representative in your place.
We look forward to seeing you!
THE DETAILSEach municipal member is entitled to one vote, but you may register as many representatives for the event as you wish. Associate members...Read more
NRRA Executive Director, Reagan Bissonnette, and NRRA Board Member, Ben Hoy, were both in Austin, TX recently at the annual Resource Recycling Conference, a national conference dedicated to enhancing municipal recycling. Participating in this conference is one way NRRA strives to best support our 450+ municipal members with the most up-to-date information on recycling and solid waste management. Some of the great workshops discussed the future of paper markets, chemical recycling, building resilient municipal recycling programs, federal grant funding opportunities, and elevating your community's outreach.
In addition to some great workshops, the conference provided opportunities to connect with speakers, exhibitors, and other attendees, including staff from NRRA electronics recycling vendor, URT, and NRRA 2022 Recycling Conference & Expo sponsors Glass Packaging Institute and The Recycling Partnership.
With much of the conference focused on recycling from the...Read more
We have all heard the expression, "What goes up, must come down." This is very true of the recycling commodity market.
At NRRA, we have begun to see a definite downward trend in pricing this month. More concerning, however, is that many of our most popular and well-trusted mills are full to capacity with material that they have received in the past month. This is why these mills are not currently accepting plastics & cardboard.
The market for #1 - #7 baled plastics is very limited for the time being, and this trend may continue in the future. We encourage our members to consider moving to a system of separating out the #1's and #2s and market, instead, baled #3 - #7 plastics which are still slow moving but more widely accepted.
The Cardboard market became flooded with material during the past several months of great pricing....Read more
The federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides an unprecedented $375 million in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop three new waste prevention, reuse, and recycling programs : (1) Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grant Program; (2) Recycling Education and Outreach Grant Program, Model Recycling Program Toolkit and School Curriculum; and (3) Battery Collection Best Practices and Voluntary Battery Labeling Guidelines. NRRA submitted feedback to the EPA during a public comment period to inform the development of these programs.
NRRA's comments were provided from the perspective of how to best assist NRRA’s member municipal solid waste facilities, especially smaller, rural ones. NRRA's comments are available as submitted on the Regulations.gov website:
Infrastructure Needs and Priorities Education and Outreach Needs and Priorities Battery Collection & LabelingNRRA will keep members updated about these important grant...Read more
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) has prepared a draft of the New Hampshire Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP), which is available for public comment on the NHDES website . The SWMP is a 10-year, high-level plan outlining goals, strategies and actions intended to reduce generation of solid waste, increase diversion from disposal, achieve the state’s solid waste disposal reduction goal , support the state’s solid waste management hierarchy , and maintain adequate capacity for management of waste generated in New Hampshire. A final version of the SWMP will be published by October 1, 2022.
The NH Solid Waste Working Group , which was established to assist NHDES with planning for New Hampshire's solid waste future, advised NHDES in the development of the draft plan. Reagan Bissonnette, Executive Director, serves as NRRA's representative on the working group. In...Read more
Did you miss our last Ask Me Anything Event?! Still wish you could ask all of your recycling questions to a panel of experts? Now is your chance!
Our Ask Me Anything: Recycling Edition panel of experts will tackle questions such as - what is source-separated recycling? Why doesn't my town recycle the same things as other towns? If something has chasing arrows it means it can be recycled...right? Do egg cartons get recycled with paper or cardboard? Doesn't recycling cost money? And much, much more!
This online event is FREE and open to the public on Thursday, August 4th from 12 to 1 PM EST – all are welcome!
Registration required. All registrants will receive a link to the video recording afterward and are encouraged to send in their recycling questions regardless of whether or not they...Read more
On Saturday, July 9th, NRRA Member Services Representative, Heather Herring, held a workshop at the Keene Recycling Center to talk about composting targeted for Keene residents. Keene Recycling Facility Operator, Mike Hartness, was there to lend his experience and suggestions with setting up a composting pile, as well as Albert Diemand from Elm City Composting.
Heather reviewed the basics of composting and why it is important to town residents and the City of Keene officials to keep weight out of their waste from an economic bottom line. She reflected on last year’s Backyard Food Scraps Pilot program carried out by twelve Keene volunteers to increase backyard composting. A small but very enthusiastic group of residents stopped by during the busy Saturday morning hour to inquire about how to begin composting and two residents won prizes. The City of Keene donated an Earth Machine compost bin and NRRA donated a...Read more
NRRA wishes the best to Heather Herring, NRRA Member Services Representative, who will be leaving NRRA to move out of state. Heather has been a great asset to the NRRA team for the past three and a half years, supporting municipal members with a wide variety of cooperative marketing and purchasing and technical assistance. In addition, Heather educated municipal staff and schools about recycling and waste reduction and coordinated NRRA's monthly Member Operations Marketing meetings for solid waste operators and speakers for NRRA's annual Recycling Conference & Expo.
Heather’s last day at NRRA will be Friday, July 22. Following Heather's departure, members should contact Bonnie Bethune, Senior Member Services Representative, for any cooperative marketing and technical assistance needs. NRRA plans to hire a new staff member to join NRRA's Member Services team, so stay tuned for more details.