A Leadership NH Look Back

For the past ten months, NRRA Executive Director, Reagan Bissonnette, represented the recycling nonprofit while participating in the latest Leadership New Hampshire cohort. The mission of Leadership NH is, "building a community of informed and engaged leaders." Participants from across all sectors of NH came together in an opening retreat, several themed days throughout the year, a closing retreat, and graduation. One of Reagan's primary goals of participating was to share NRRA's mission, recycling education, and waste reduction resources with her fellow participants to increase the visibility and understanding of the importance of solid waste management, recycling, and diversion in New Hampshire.

During her first day in October 2022, Reagan spent the day focused on the theme, “New Hampshire: A Community of Communities.” Participants heard from a variety of speakers from the UNH survey center, Stay, Work, Play, the documentary filmmaker, and UNH Cooperative Extension Community and Economic Development Center. They discussed benefits and challenges of regionalization to reduce costs. Reagan shared that NRRA will be working with communities to increase awareness of opportunities to partner together to manage solid waste programs under our new USDA grant.

In November 2022, Reagan began her Leadership NH campaign to create the largest carpool in the program. Like most things in life, it started small, and she was joined by fellow classmates, Kaarin Olofsson Milne from TEDxPortsmouth and Rob Kleiner from Northeast Delta Dental who rode together to Plymouth State University for the day. The November theme focused on education programming. The goals of the day were for participants to be introduced to the major challenges, trends, and strategies in education Pre-K through post-graduate in NH; to consider education in NH through the lenses of diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion; and to examine ways teaching and learning at all levels have adjusted to and because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a great range of speakers and small group discussions on a big and challenging topic.

In December 2022, the day focused on health and healthcare education. The group met at the Merrimack County Nursing Home in Boscawen, NH to discuss the relationship between health and healthcare - especially during and in the wake of the Covid pandemic - and health equity. One of the speakers, Sally Kraft, VP of Population Health at Dartmouth Health, shared that 80 percent of health is determined by socioeconomic, behavioral, and environmental factors. Only 20 percent of health is determined by healthcare! The visit included a tour the nursing home and meeting one of the resident cats that helped oversee the tour.

The January 2023 Leadership NH day saw an increase to Reagan's growing carpool with 4 classmates joining her for the ride up to Lebanon, NH. The day was focused on business and the economy and was hosted by Hypertherm North America, a 100% employee-owned company that manufactures industrial cutting technologies using plasma and water. Reagan was particularly excited to see a prominently displayed, "Pledge to Recycle" signed by all employees! The class was able to tour Hyperthem's LEED Gold certified manufacturing facility over the course of the day. The company has achieved an impressive Zero Landfill goal for its NH operations, which means that less than 1% of their waste is landfilled!

The day began with an overview of the NH economy by economist Brian Gottlob, Director of the Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau at the NH Department of Employment Security. He predicted that a recession in 2023 was less likely to happen, which differs from what many other economists are predicting. Later, a moderated panel discussed how businesses and nonprofits are adapting to the changing economy and workplace. The panel included Miriam Carter, Executive Director of the League of NH Craftsmen (pictured). 

The February 2023 Leadership NH day focused on Public Safety and Justice. The Honorable Tina Nadeau, Chief Justice of the NH Superior Court (pictured), talked about the work of NH's Drug Courts, which are designed to promote compliance with treatment programs as an alternative to jail time.

Next, a panel discussion included perspectives on "what does justice look like" from an Assistant Attorney General, a former Public Defender, and a former Superintendent for a county Department of Corrections. We finished by having a powerful conversation with Joseph Lascaze of the ACLU of New Hampshire about "what is justice?" and to what extend our current criminal justice system focuses on punishment versus rehabilitation. 

The conversation continued in Reagan's carpool home (while reducing greenhouse gas emissions) with Clement Kigugu of Overcomers Refugee Services, Jen Hopkins of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, and Rob Kleiner of Northeast Delta Dental (pictured).

The March 2023 Leadership NH day for Arts, Culture & Media proved to be a favorite! Hosted at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH,  the group began with a guided tour of the museum, where Reagan was delighted to find several examples of recycling and reuse in art.

The Gee's Bend quilt exhibit had Reagan's favorite example of reuse: a "broken star" quilt from the 1920s made from scraps that clearly showed signs of washing and use, yet is now hanging in a museum. There was a metal sculpture by a Anthony Caro, an abstract sculpture known for making sculptures using "found" industrial objects. And a photo titled "Recycled Realities #53" made from paper rolls ready for recycling. The artist, John Willis, "notes that even recycled material creates enormous waste and pollution."

As for the program speakers, the cohort heard from Angie Lane, the Executive Director of Red River Theatres. The discussion of media featured Dana Wormald, Editor of the New Hampshire Bulletin and Jim Schachter, President & CEO of NHPR. Reagan asked the speakers how they think about - and try to counteract - the maxim that "bad news sells." While NRRA has had positive experiences with reporters from their teams, we have consistently found that it is easier to get news outlets to pick up a negative story about recycling than a positive one. Dana acknowledged the issue and said he appreciated Reagan's reminder that they could do better.

The April 2023 Leadership NH day was Reagan's time to shine: Environment and Sustainability program day! Held at the Seashell Ocean Pavilion at Hampton Beach State Park, the cohort heard first from Steve Poggi from Waste Management, who provided a national perspective on how New Hampshire handles its waste. Reagan then spoke about trash, recycling, and food waste in NH and why it matters. It wrapped up with a lively Q&A! 

Reagan emphasized the following three takeaways:

1. Nearly 1/4 of all our municipal solid waste (trash from households, businesses, schools) by weight disposed nationwide is food waste. A shocking number!
2. Waste reduction, like recycling and composting, is more financially valuable in NH because New England has the highest cost for trash disposal in the entire country.
3. The chasing arrows aka "recycling symbol" does NOT mean something is recyclable - it is a clue that shows the plastic resin type. This last one resulted in horrified gasps from several attendees. When I gave the example that a plastic Dunkin iced tea cup with a lid and straw is trash, one person cried out "I've been recycling wrong my entire life!"

Reagan also shared six steps attendees could take to learn more and get more engaged in this issue, from easiest to most time-consuming:

1. Sign up for Full of Scrap
2. Buy recycled at home and work, like copy paper
3. Stop throwing away your food scraps (for resources, check out our food waste services list)
4. Invite NRRA to your town for a site visit (this is a Members-only benefit)
5. Get your business a free waste reduction consultation from the Center for EcoTechnology
6. Join your waste reduction committee in town, or form your own - but be mindful to work collaboratively with the knowledgeable municipal staff who handle your trash and recycling.

The closing Leadership NH retreat saw Reagan achieve her goal of largest carpool with SEVEN classmates riding together (pictured below). 

The retreat began at the Mountain View Grand Resort, a beautiful historic hotel in Whitefield, NH. After breakfast in Lancaster, the carpool of 7 people drove to the Washburn Family Forest in Pittsburg. Leah Hart of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests gave the Leadership NH participants a tour and discussed land conservation and stewardship in the North Country. After lunch, they learned about conservation law enforcement from Wayne Saunders, a retired conservation officer with NH Fish and Game (and host of the podcast Warden's Watch).

The group then traveled to the shore of the First Connecticut Lake to learn about NH’s Connecticut Lakes from Jill Kilborn of NH Fish and Game and Maggie Machinist of the NH Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources. Before heading back for dinner, the carpool detoured to the First Lake General Store, which had received a loan from the NH Community Loan Fund (pictured below). The carpool highly recommends their fudge!

On the second day of the retreat, the group drove to the AMC Highland Center at Crawford Notch, a beautiful facility with a recycling toilet system (aka composting toilets). They divided into small groups to discuss how participants could deepen their civic engagement after LNH ends and support each other's efforts. Reagan shared some examples of how she's collaborated with LNH classmates and speakers, such as partnering with Yasamin Safarzadeh of Kimball Jenkins to create a recycled art project at the 2023 Annual Recycling Conference.

The group also reflected on the goals they each initially set when joining Leadership NH. One of Reagan's goals was to increase fellow classmates’ awareness about recycling and waste reduction in NH, so a highlight was hearing from classmates who have taken action to reduce their waste following her prior presentation on Earth Day about recycling and waste reduction. One classmate has since purchased a kitchen composting appliance, another “stepped up” his family’s home composting, and a third has been eating leftovers with more enthusiasm. Another classmate took to heart “when in doubt, throw it out” and has been overhauling her family’s recycling habits. Mission accomplished!

Finally, on June 1, 2023, the Leadership NH graduation was held at the LaBelle Winery in Amherst, NH, followed by a reception with Leadership NH alumni. As usual, Reagan carpooled with a friend. 

It was a great event to wrap up the program year, filled with satisfying reminders that Reagan's initial goal of increasing classmates' knowledge of recycling and waste management in New Hampshire was successful. 

A closing reflection from Reagan:

When we arrived at graduation, I spotted a cardboard recycling dumpster with a handy lid to prevent contamination, so of course I posed for a photo. Once inside, a classmate introduced me to her guest, explaining that she learned from me that nearly 1/4 of our household trash is food waste. Later, during dinner, one classmate asked our table what our biggest takeaways were from Leadership NH. To my delight, the group started off by talking about my Earth Day presentation!

One classmate appreciated that I provided actionable and doable changes she could implement, and she plans to purchase a compost tumbler. Another classmate has been encouraging her husband to eat leftovers, which he typically discards.

Another shared that learning the chasing arrows "recycling symbol" doesn't mean all plastics can be recycled was a revelation that has shifted her plastics recycling habits at home. Yet another classmate shared that she went right home after my presentation and taped the ends of her bucket of batteries she was saving for disposal, not realizing they could be a fire hazard.

Finally, later in the evening, an alumni who works with a friend of mine proudly shared that their office recently added both recycling and composting services, which they had consulted me about a few months ago.