The Pivot: Scale to Impact Summit

In early October, NRRA's Executive Director, Reagan Bissonnette, attended The Pivot: Scale to Impact in Kansas City, Missouri. An invite-only summit convened by The Recycling Partnership (TRP).

The Pivot celebrated TRP’s first ten years and brought together communities and states managing recycling programs, consumer brand companies that design products and packaging, and other organizations - like the Northeast Resource Recovery Association - that are committed to building a better recycling system.

One of Reagan's primary goals while attending The Pivot was to share with attendees the unique challenges and opportunities faced by small, rural communities like NRRA’s members.  

The Pivot was not a conference; rather it was an opportunity for innovators, leaders, and connectors across the recycling supply chain to engage in conversation and discuss opportunities for greater investment, harmonized state and national policy changes, and increased consumer engagement to ensure that everyone who wants to recycle, can recycle. Thanks to generous funding from TRP’s Steve Thompson Memorial Grant program, Reagan was able to attend the three-day event at no cost to NRRA. 

It’s not uncommon for us to hear NRRA members wondering why the companies producing products and packaging can’t make those items more recyclable. Thanks to the Pivot, we have a better understanding of the ongoing efforts and challenges brands and retailers face to increase the recyclability and recycled content of their products and packaging.

It was encouraging to hear that when one large company asked its customers what sustainability features of packaging were most important to them, recyclability was the clear the top choice. Reagan heard from consumer brands about the future of packaging recyclability and steps they are taking to standardize How2Recycle labels to make it easier for residents to properly recycle. Attendees also discussed the challenge of virgin plastic flooding the markets and costing less than recycled plastic.  

The Pivot also reinforced one area where NRRA and our member communities can make a bigger impact to increase recycling – improving recycling engagement and participation.

TRP estimates that nationwide, only 73% of households have access to recycling in their community, and that only 59% of households with access to recycling are participating in their local recycling programs. While most people feel good about recycling, the biggest loss of recycling is in people’s homes when items are thrown away instead of recycled. In various sessions and breakout discussions, the power of unified communication to increase recycling engagement was emphasized. That includes in-person education, handouts, magnets, videos, and postcards designed to help people understand how to recycle and increase their confidence about the effectiveness of recycling. TRP's Center for Sustainable Behavior & Impact also created exhibits sharing how families across the country feel about recycling and what motivates them to recycle.  

NRRA will be announcing an exciting project in 2025 to increase recycling engagement and participation in New Hampshire communities. We can’t wait to share more details with you soon.