Collection event in Silver City on November 15th.

We hosted a community recycling drive on Nov 15 from noon to 4PM. We called this Grant County Recycles Day. The Grant County Commissioners and the Silver City Town Council each issued proclamations. Southwest Solid Waste Authority assisted with the event providing personnel and equipment. We had around fifty people attend the event. They were given information about recycling and free gifts provided by NMRC. Attendees dropped off 700 pounds of recyclables including 13 cell phones and 7 pounds of rechargeable batteries. Curbside recycling bins were distributed to about 20 Silver City residents and businesses.

We emphasized the collection of glass and plastic from county residents since they have only one site in the county for recycling glass and plastic whereas it is included in the Silver City curbside collection program. There were several people that brought pick-up truck loads full of plastic and glass for collection.

Recycle Runway Hits the Albuquerque Sunport

The Recycle Runway™Collection features elegant haute couture garments made from waste materials by Santa Fe artist Nancy Judd. The first Recycle Runway project was installed in the Albuquerque International Sunport in the airport's art exhibition area. Many NMRC members remember Nancy Judd as the former director of NMRC and the designer of numerous national Pulp Fashion shows.

Commissioned by global corporations including Toyota, Coca-Cola, and Target Stores, the Recycle Runway™ Collection brings creativity to sustainability by capturing the viewer’s imagination with elegant recycled fashions and addressing poignant environmental stewardship issues. Some of the outfits include: a faux fur jacket made with endless loops of cassette and video tape; a dress train made of origami junk mail fans sewn together like fish scales; and an evening gown glittering with thousands of pieces of crushed recycled glass. Each original hand sewn garment takes between 100-400 hours to create and adheres to the highest artistic standards. View the full collection at www.RecycleRunway.com.
 

Nancy Judd speaks at the late October press conference announcing the launch of Recycle Runway and the Greater Albuquerque recycling media Campaign.

The intent of The Airport Project is to exhibit the Recycle Runway™ Collection in glass cases in airports around the world, encouraging millions of people to reflect upon sustainability issues in a creative, fun, and eye-catching venue. This innovative approach to environmental education uses high quality artistic expression as a means to positively engage viewers in thinking about sustainability concerns. The compelling visual and conceptual exhibit provides travelers with a positive diversion from the pressures of traveling by giving them, along with visitors and airport staff, an imaginative and thought provoking experience.

The first Recycle Runway airport exhibit is being shown at the Albuquerque Sunport from October 26, 2007 to January 16, 2008. The collection is exhibited in three 12’ long cases located at the entrance to the airport through the parking structure. One case will display recycled fashions from a Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s “Summer Art and Leadership Program for Girls” workshop held in July, 2007 by Nancy Judd. To contact Nancy call her at 505-577-9712 or email Nancy@RecycleRunway.com

Environmentally-Preferable Electronics Purchasing Online Guide

If you want to evaluate the most environmentally-preferable electronic products, check out the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT).  EPEAT is a system to help purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products, and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its products.

The EPEAT Registry on this web site includes products that have been declared by their manufacturers to be in conformance with the environmental performance standard for electronic products - IEEE 1680- 2006.  The standard is summarized here, and may be purchased from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.  EPEAT operates a  verification program to assure the credibility of the Registry.

White House Executive Order 13423 requires federal agencies to purchase at least 95% EPEAT-registered products in all relevant electronic product categories.

Go to www.epeat.net

Albuquerque Recycle-A-Thon Set for January 26

The Albuquerque Area Professional Organizers (AAPO) present Get Organized Month 2008 Recycle-A-Thon on January 26, 2008, 9a.m. - 1 p.m., at the SW corner of the Kmart shopping center at Carlisle and I-40 (2100 Carlisle, NE). The public can get a head start on becoming more organized in 2008 by de-cluttering their homes and offices of recyclables at no cost. The event is free and an effort to highlight Get Organized Month, an annual January event sponsored by the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) dedicated to raising the awareness of the benefits of organization and of hiring a professional organizer. The event is co-sponsored by the City of Albuquerque, Shred-It, Junk Pros, and New Mexico Clean and Beautiful.

“January is the perfect month to get organized and start your new year off right,” say Karen Payne and Carolyn Taylor, professional organizers and spokespersons for the event. “Getting organized is one of the top 5 New Year’s resolutions people make. With the help of a professional organizer, setting goals for you, your home or business, it’s easier than most people think. A great way to start the process is to evaluate unwanted items, and recycle what you can.  AAPO wants to help you do just that!”

To help members of the public find a professional organizer, AAPO will have information available about professional organizing for both business and residential customers. In addition, NAPO (www.napo.net) offers the public an automated referral network searchable by ZIP code and organizing specialty.

For more information, please contact Karen Payne at 505-559-4760, or Carolyn Taylor at 505-463-0010 or visit www.nmorganizers.com

Call Out For American Forestry and Paper Association Recycling Awards

Entry forms for the 2008 AF&PA Recycling Awards are now available at www.paperrecyclingawards.org

If you have a successful business, community, school, or university recycling program, tell us about it:

• AF&PA Business Leadership Recycling Award
• AF&PA Community Recycling Award
• AF&PA College & University Recycling Award
• AF&PA School-Wide Recycling Award

Entries must be received by Thursday, January 31, 2008. Award winners will receive their prizes - an original piece of paper art and a monetary award - as part of the 131st AF&PA Paper Week in New York City on April 1, 2008.

AF&PA is pleased to recognize outstanding recycling programs as part of on-going industry efforts to increase paper recovery. In 2006, 53.4 percent (53.5 million tons) of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling. While this is great news, there is more that can be done. The paper industry has set a goal of 55 percent by 2012. For additional information on paper recycling and resources, please visit www.paperrecycles.org.

National Environmental Essay Contest 2008

The Essay contest for middle and high school students has two categories: Novice, grades 6 through 9 and Expert, grades 10 through 12,
 

First place winners in each category receive a $200 U.S. Savings Bond. Second place winners are awarded a $100 U.S. Savings Bond.

Entries should arrive at the New Mexico State University IEE/WERC office any time before 5:00 p.m. February 15, 2008.
 

For details on the contest go to www.werc.net  for this program and all other K-12 programs.

Grants and Loans

State Loans

NMED Constructions Programs Bureau offers low-interest loans for solid waste projects: http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/cpb/rip.html .

EPA Pollution Reduction CARE Grant

The 2008 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency CARE Cooperative Agreement Request for Proposals (RFP) is now available on-line at: http://www.epa.gov/air/grants_funding.html#0802. This year the application time line has been extended to 3 months and the deadline is March 17, 2008.

The CARE website has additional information related to the CARE RFP, including our upcoming Q&A Webcasts, so also visit: http://www.epa.gov/CARE

Around $3 million will be available in 2008 to support community-based partnerships to reduce pollution at the local level through the Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program. Applications for the CARE grants are due March 17, 2008. Eligible applicants include county and local governments, tribes, non-profit organizations and universities. EPA will conduct three conference calls, Jan. 18, Feb. 11 and 27, for prospective applicants to ask questions about the application process.
 

Jobs

University of New Mexico Recycling Tech

Interested people can go to the UNM Human Resources web site and look under job openings. They can also follow this link:
https://ejobs.unm.edu/jobHome.cfm 

Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency: Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station Site Manager

Click here for job announcement

Southwest Solid Waste Authority: Equipment Operator

Click here for job announcement

Regional Roundup

Sandoval County: Has begun recycling cardboard at the landfill.

Roswell and Corrales: Have both added electronics recycling to their recycling programs.