Press Release: NRRA Begins Recycling with Results Grant Project
EPSOM, NH (January 24, 2022) - The Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA), a recycling nonprofit that enables communities to manage their own recycling programs, has begun its Recycling with Results grant-funded project. Outreach has begun in preparation for the upcoming Recycle Right social media campaign and Solid Waste Advisory Team (SWAT) Program.
In August 2021, NRRA was awarded a grant by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service to launch a Recycling with Results project. This grant is aimed at helping small, rural communities in New Hampshire recycle more and recycle better in order to reduce their solid waste stream. With support from this grant, NRRA has created a SWAT Program focused on providing educational and technical assistance for town employees and officials, and a Recycle Right campaign focused on providing recycling information to residents. Both initiatives will launch in the spring of 2022.
SWAT PROGRAM
Using teams of experienced solid waste operator mentors and NRRA staff, the SWAT Program will provide free, hands-on technical assistance and solid waste facility evaluations for qualified* communities. Towns participating in the SWAT Program will receive short and long-term recommendations to improve their solid waste planning and management.
SWAT Program mentors will be selected from communities similar to those receiving assistance. Mentors will therefore be more familiar with the needs and capacity of qualified communities to implement recommendations. Topics addressed through the SWAT Program may include traffic flow through solid waste facilities, pay as you throw programs, disposal fees charged to residents, and changes to recycling and solid waste management to maximize recycling revenue and minimize costs.
The SWAT Program will also provide assistance to select qualified* communities to develop full cost accounting models for their solid waste facility operations. Full cost accounting is a systematic approach for identifying and reporting the actual costs of solid waste management and is helpful for budgeting and informing changes that are necessary to improve program operations.
To participate in the SWAT Program, a community must demonstrate local decision-maker buy-in for SWAT Program services and have an existing solid waste facility to evaluate.
RECYCLE RIGHT CAMPAIGN
The Recycle Right campaign is a valuable and free educational service NRRA is providing to all member communities, but is especially designed for small source-separated New Hampshire towns. While other Recycle Right campaigns do exist, they focus primarily on single-stream recycling that is typically found in larger towns and cities in New Hampshire. Source separated recycling has some unique aspects that our Recycle Right campaign will address.
The goal of the Recycle Right campaign is to educate community residents about how to both recycle more and recycle correctly. The outcome of recycling better is a reduction of the solid waste stream and improved (uncontaminated) recyclables. The Recycle Right campaign will begin on April 18, 2022 - the week of Earth Day - and run for four months. The campaign will be published through social media posts, a bi-weekly newsletter, and a dedicated page on the NRRA website.
Since towns do not all recycle the same things, posts will not focus as much on the standard "memorization lists" that are frequently found in single stream Recycle Right campaigns. Instead, posts will include images and videos that focus on the "why" behind recycling.
The Recycle Right campaign will allow communities to have an effective way to educate their residents about the importance of recycling. Additionally, because the campaign is composed of "evergreen" recycling education content that will be made publicly available, towns will be able to run their own Recycle Right campaign at any time in the future with ease.
NRRA is encouraging all members, and especially qualified* towns, to sign up for the Recycle Right campaign.
*Qualified Towns have been identified as the following NRRA Member Towns with less than 5,500 residents and a Median Household Income (MHI) less than the New Hampshire Statewide Nonmetro MHI: Acworth, Alexandria, Allenstown, Alstead, Ashland, Barnstead, Bartlett, Bennington, Bethlehem, Bristol, Campton, Carroll, Charlestown, Clarksville, Colebrook, Columbia, Dalton, Danbury, Dummer, Easton, Effingham, Ellsworth, Enfield, Errol, Farmington, Freedom, Gorham, Goshen, Grafton, Greenville, Groton, Hancock, Hillsborough, Hinsdale, Jaffrey, Jefferson, Lancaster, Landaff, Lincoln, Lisbon, Littleton, Lyman, Marlow, Meredith, Middleton, Milan, Monroe, Newbury, New London, Newport, Northfield, Northumberland, Ossipee, Pembroke, Pittsburg, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Rollinsford, Rumney, Sandwich, Stark, Stewartstown, Stratford, Sunapee, Swanzey, Tamworth, Temple, Thornton, Tilton, Troy, Tuftonboro, Wakefield, Walpole, Warner, Warren, Washington, Wentworth, Whitefield, Wilton, Winchester, Wolfeboro.
** This material is based upon work supported under a grant by the Rural Utilities Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Rural Utilities Service. Rural Community Assistance Partnership, Inc., is an equal opportunity provider and employer.