Northeast associations partner to advance sustainable materials management

The Brattleboro, Vermont-based Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) and Northeast Waste Management Officials’ Association (NEWMOA), Boston, have agreed to a partnership to help advance sustainable materials management in the Northeast over the next five years. 

The “NEWMOA & NERC Joint Strategic Action Plan, 2018–2022” identifies the following areas for collaboration:

• food scraps reduction, recovery and management;
• recyclables collection and impacts on manufacturing and end users;
• product stewardship;
• climate and impacts on the recycling and solid waste infrastructure; and
• construction and demolition (C&D) materials.

The plan identifies key strategies and actions the two organizations will take jointly to address these solid waste challenges. 

“The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) applauds NERC and NEWMOA for their vision and collaboration in adopting their Joint Strategic Action Plan,” says DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee. “These nationally recognized interstate organizations have a proven record of success with projects that support and advance our work efforts here in Connecticut. Working together to implement the joint NERC and NEWMOA strategic plan is closely aligned with the mission of DEEP and our goal of doubling the recycling rate in Connecticut to 60 percent.”

Lynn Rubinstein, executive director of NERC, adds, “This is an exciting collaboration for NERC. As an organization celebrating its 30th anniversary, it is a moment of dynamic change and to be entering into a significant action plan with a fellow organization presents a significant opportunity to further our mission and effect great change in the region.”

Terri Goldberg, executive director of NEWMOA, says, “Our partnership with NERC has been evolving over the past few years, and this strategic action represents an exciting milestone as we embark on collaborating to address critical solid waste issues in the region.”

NEWMOA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, interstate association whose membership is composed of the state environment agency programs that address pollution prevention, toxics use reduction, sustainability, materials management, hazardous waste, solid waste, emergency response, waste site cleanup, underground storage tanks and related environmental challenges in the Northeast states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. The association provides a forum for solving environmental problems through collaborative regional initiatives that advance pollution prevention and sustainability; promote safer alternatives to toxic materials in products; identify and assess emerging contaminants; facilitate adaption to climate change; mitigate greenhouse gas sources; promote reuse and recycling of wastes and diversion of organics; support proper management of hazardous and solid wastes; and facilitate cleanup of contaminant releases to the environment.

NERC is a multistate nonprofit organization that is works on environmental and economic sustainability through responsible solid waste management. Its programs emphasize source reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP), and decreasing the toxicity of the solid waste stream in the 11-state region comprised of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. NERC says its mission is to promote sustainable materials management by supporting traditional and innovative solid waste best practices, focusing on waste prevention, toxics reduction, reuse, recycling and organics recovery.