Latest News
NRRA participated in the NH Municipal Association's virtual conference on "Resilience" from November 18 to 20 with NRRA staff both presenting and staffing a virtual exhibitor booth.
NRRA Executive Director Reagan Bissonnette and Member Services Manager Bonnie Bethune presented "Recycling in NH: Keeping it Financially Sustainable and Safe." They were joined by nearly 50 attendees to discuss the economics of the current recycling markets and impacts from COVID-19. Attendees learned how to make their recycling operations more financially sustainable and discussed concrete steps municipalities can take to continue recycling safely during the pandemic. Heather Herring, NRRA Education Manager, staffed NRRA's first-ever virtual booth, which was "seen" by 250 of the total 443 conference attendees. Heather ventured into a new online platform, Whova, which was used for the conference in order to invite groups of attendees virtually for meet-ups throughout the 3 day-conference. Whova provided exhibitors a competition with points...Read more
Did you know that the Northeast Resource Recovery Association is one of only a handful of nonprofits in the entire country that offers a recyclables marketing cooperative model? This means that we directly connect sellers of recyclable commodities to purchasers of those commodities. Last year, we returned over $1.8 million to our members from the sale of their recyclables and enabled our members to recycle enough material to remove the equivalent of 22,393 passenger cars from the road for an entire year.
This year, we need support from individual donations more than ever.
NRRA has enabled communities throughout New England to manage their own recycling programs and reduce their waste for nearly forty years. Together, we partner to make recycling strong through economic and environmentally sound solutions. We support municipalities with cooperative marketing of recyclables and provide technical assistance and education to...Read more
On Monday and Tuesday, November 16 and 17, NRRA presented about using processed glass aggregate in infrastructure projects at the virtual event "Increasing the Use of Recycled Content in Infrastructure Projects." Over 85 people joined for two afternoons to learn about using processed glass aggregate, plastic corrugated drainage pipes with recycled content, ground asphalt, crumb rubber in roads and other infrastructure projects, and more.
Processed Glass Aggregate (PGA)NRRA Executive Director Reagan Bissonnette was joined by Brian Patnoe, NRRA Board Member & Littleton NH Transfer Station Manager, and NRRA members Bob Harrington, Public Works Director and John Early, Transfer Station Supervisor, of New London, NH to talk about NRRA's PGA program. Reagan shared the process for creating PGA, the various New England state specifications for using PGA , the benefits of using PGA, the results of a PGA survey that gathered examples of PGA use...Read more
EPSOM, NH (November 12, 2020) – The Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA), a recycling nonprofit that enables communities to manage their own recycling programs, has released an ArcGIS story map and video that provide a transparent look at glass recycling. At a time when depressed recycling markets have many people wondering what happens with their recyclables, NRRA recognizes its 100 member communities in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts that are successfully recycling glass for over half a million residents.
Through its unique recycling cooperative model, NRRA provides its municipal members with two options to recycle their glass bottles and jars. First, communities can recycle glass into fiberglass insulation, which can be used to insulate homes and businesses. Second, communities can crush glass into processed glass aggregate (PGA), which can be used in road and other infrastructure projects in the place of gravel and sand.
“We are grateful for...Read more
The Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) has announced the recipients of its 2020 Recycling Awards, which recognize organizations and individuals for their contributions to support NRRA’s mission of partnering to make recycling strong through economic and environmentally sound solutions. The award winners were:
Business of the Year Award – OPRSystems, Inc. from Wilmington, Massachusetts Rookie of the Year Award – Steve Bullek, Public Works Manager for the Town of Lee, New Hampshire Sami Izzo Recycler of the Year Award – Paula Dow, Finance and Human Resource Manager, NRRAThe award winners were announced at NRRA’s Annual Meeting, which was held virtually on November 4, 2020.
Business of the Year – OPRSystems, Inc. : NRRA presented Dave Cameron, General Manager of OPRSystems, Inc., with the Business of the Year Award. NRRA works with many businesses to support its members with recycling and waste reduction....Read more
We are happy to report that this year's Annual Meeting on Wednesday, November 4th was bursting with members participating online! Over 55 members and staff tuned in to hear all things NRRA. Executive Director Reagan Bissonnette welcomed the group to our virtual gathering, thanking members for continuing the essential service of managing trash and recycling for their communities in the midst of the pandemic. Reagan also announced that all the webinars from NRRA's Summer Webinar Series are now available for free for NRRA members.
Eleven-year President Duncan Watson was not able to lead us all in virtual yoga as is his traditional Annual Meeting ice breaker, but he painted a story about our current path and challenged members to dramatically increase diversion rates. Mark Richardson, NRRA Board Treasurer, gave a financial report that showed NRRA is fortunate to have a sound financial base, which...Read more
NRRA has become aware of two recent fires related to the improper recycling of lawnmowers by residents. Lawnmowers can be safely recycled with scrap metal, but only if they are fully emptied of gas beforehand.
In one case, a resident recycled a lawnmower that still had gas in it. When the transfer station operator went to push down the metal with the loader to make more space in the storage container, a spark ignited the fuel and caused the fire.
In another community, a lawnmower with gas in it was similarly put with the scrap metal. In that case, the fuel fumes had time to go through the entire metal container and caused an explosion when the solid waste operator pushed the metal down with equipment.
Fortunately, no one was hurt in either case. But the containers had to be repaired and repainted before they could...Read more
Norm Bowles, the former operator of the Canterbury NH Recycling Center, passed away on October 17, 2020 at 90 years of age surrounded by family and friends.
He often referred to himself as a “young boy” and the “bad boy of Canterbury”.
Norm’s son David knew how much he meant to NRRA Staff and called to let us know when his Dad was in declining health the end of September.
Norm dedicated his life to his family, farming, hard work and recycling. One of the highlights of his time at the recycling facility was the “Dance at da Dump," which involved a hot tub and celebrations of recycling!
NH Department of Environmental Services even gave him a lifetime solid waste operator’s license. Norm and his family are in our thoughts.
For obituary: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/concordmonitor/obituary.aspx?n=norman-r-bowles&pid=196967142 Read more