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SHIP Lessons (Supporting Home Instruction Plan) NRRA's School Recycling Club has pivoted their on-site classroom workshops and school-wide technical assistance programs to remote workshops and created nine free lesson plans from NRRA's school recycling curricula in response to COVID-19. Nine lessons from NRRA's nationally recognized curricula ( 3R's of the Common Core: Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without and Teaching Toxics : Creating Solutions to Household Pollution) were broken out for age groups K-3, 4-6, 7-8 and 9-12. Each lesson plan packet includes a video introduction aligned with each packet theme, the Common...

We made lemonade out of lemons. NRRA is pleased to announce our 2020 Summer Webinar Series recordings are available! Eighteen presentations that would have been available at our annual conference are ready to be watched. These webinars are available are open to all. The following audiences are encouraged to participate: municipal recycling and transfer station staff, solid waste operators, public works staff, state and local government officials and staff, educators and community members. New Hampshire solid waste operators will receive one hour of continuing education credit for each webinar for participating. Summer Webinar Series...

It all started on a summer afternoon in 2008 when Ivar Martin was crushing rocks for the town of Goffstown, NH. He was watching the glass crusher that NRRA hired and said, "I can build a better mousetrap (glass crusher)". Ivar did and has been NRRA's glass crusher ever since that time for our Processed Glass Aggregate (PGA) program! Glass collected through community recycling programs includes clear, green, and brown food or beverage containers. Glass used to be separated by color, but the market price for recycled glass as cullet continues to decrease. The weight of glass makes it costly to move to a facility to recycle for some...

The Northeast Resource Recovery Association appreciates pets who remind everyone to recycle!

Did you know that NRRA is filming a video about processed glass aggregate (PGA) and how it can be used in road and infrastructure projects? About 65 communities in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts participate in NRRA's PGA program, which enables communities to consolidate their glass bottles and jars at host sites. The glass is then crushed into an aggregate for local use. Filming took place over three days at and around NRRA's PGA host sites in New London, NH and Rochester, NH. The film will be available this fall and will feature interviews with NRRA members about both their experience participating in NRRA's program and...

NRRA participated in the North Country Council's "Solid Waste in the North Country" event on August 19 for a discussion of solid waste management systems, the importance of recycling, and the general management of various types of waste in New Hampshire. The event was held remotely and the speakers included Reagan Bissonnette, NRRA Executive Director, Brian Patnoe, NRRA Board member and Solid Waste Manager for the Town of Littleton, NH, and staff from the NH Department of Environmental Services. As part of her presentation, Reagan answered the following three questions for the nearly 30 attendees. A summary of her answers are...

Did you know that July 28 is National Milk Chocolate Day? Our own Heather Herring, Education Manager, recently presented as part of Sustainability Day to members of the Lindt Chocolate Research and Development, Creativity, and Procurement Teams. They requested to learn more about where NH garbage goes and if recycling is really happening today. This young energetic group had lots of specific questions about the recycability of their candy wrappers, plastic trays, and packaging. They are looking into package design for their products and were recommended to consult with NRRA as part of Lindt's Sustainability Report priorities. NRRA...

The NRRA Board of Trustees would like to recognize and thank Lisa Stevens for her years of service to the Board. Lisa resigned from the Board of Trustees in June after serving on the Board for seven years, most recently as Treasurer. When Lisa Stevens joined the NRRA board in 2013, she was the Treasurer at BCEP Solid Waste District, which serves the communities of Barnstead, Chichester, Epsom and Pittsfield. Lisa was later promoted to the position of District Administrator, which she currently holds. In addition to serving as NRRA’s Treasurer and providing input on NRRA’s budget and previously serving as Secretary, Lisa recently...

UPDATE July 28, 2020: Governor Sununu vetoed HB 1234 today, so the following bills will not become law this session. The below news article was originally published July 26, 2020. In the 2020 legislative cycle, numerous bills were proposed in New Hampshire that are relevant to NRRA’s members with respect to solid waste and resource recovery. Most bills were tabled due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see our March 16, 2020 legislative update for details about those original bills), but three were included HB 1234, in an omnibus amendment that was passed by the the NH Senate on June 16, 2020 and concurred by the NH House on June 30. The...

Did you miss last month's free two-part contract negotiation webinar led by NRRA staff and hosted by the NH Department of Environmental Services? The recordings and handouts are available as part of NRRA's new Resource Library, which contains resources for NRRA members and the public, including webinar recordings, videos, and documents on a variety of recycling and waste reduction topics. The contract negotiation webinar description and links to each webinar are included below. Does your municipality have contracts in place for solid waste services, include trash, recycling, and perhaps even composting? Would you like to understand...