Recycling Facility
Operator Certification Class - December 5-7, Santa Fe
Register today for the last
class offered this year for the certification course series. The Recycling
Certification Class has seats open. Please register early and then work on the
PO process.
Register at
www.recyclenewmexico.com/cert_classes.htm
to ensure your space in the class!
NMRC Board Meeting
- December 8-9
Board meetings
are open to all NMRC Members. To attend, please RSVP to English Bird at
english@recyclenewmexico.com
December 8-9, Noon to Noon, Sevilleta Refuge
Retreat.
COMPOST CLASS FIELD TRIP TO SOILUTIONS
IN ALBUQUERQUE
Jim Brooks, owner of Soilutions and a key
instructor of the 3-day Composting Facility Operator Certification class, gets
students fired up about making compost!
President Bush
Declares November 15 as America Recycles Day
A Proclamation by the President of the United
States of America
Good stewardship of the environment is a
personal responsibility and an important public value, and on America Recycles
Day, we highlight the many benefits of recycling. By taking steps to reduce
waste and re-use materials, we can save precious natural resources, enhance the
beauty of our communities, and add to the health and prosperity of our Nation.
Our citizens play an important role in
protecting our environment, and throughout our country, we are recycling,
composting, and helping turn materials that would otherwise become waste into
valuable resources. Recycling helps conserve energy, prevent greenhouse gas
emissions and water pollutants, and decrease the need for new landfills and
incinerators.
Recognizing the importance of recycling, my
Administration is promoting cooperative efforts to conserve and maintain our
natural resources. The Environmental Protection Agency is encouraging
businesses, industries, and communities to work together to promote recycling
through the Resource Conservation Challenge (RCC). Partnerships between
government agencies, businesses, industries, and private organizations help us
to improve practices of recycling, re-use, and waste reduction. In addition, my
Administration is working with businesses through the Plug-In To eCycling
Campaign to collect and re-use computers, cell phones, and other electronics
that would otherwise become solid or hazardous waste. To further reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and save energy, the EPA is also partnering with
manufacturers, utility companies, and construction companies through the
Industrial Materials Recycling effort to increase the safe re-use of industrial
byproducts.
Americans are united in the belief that we have
an obligation to be good stewards of the environment, and America Recycles Day
is an opportunity to recommit ourselves to wisely managing our natural
resources. By promoting responsibility and good citizenship, we can build a
brighter future for our children and our Nation.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 15,
2006, as America Recycles Day. I call upon the people of the United States to
observe this day with appropriate programs and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand
this fourteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand six, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
thirty-first.
GEORGE W. BUSH
The official press release can be found at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/11/20061115.html .
Jeff Steinborn Elected to NM State
Legislature
Congratulations are in order
to former NMRC board member Jeff Steinborn, who won a seat in the New Mexico
House of Representatives. He will be representing the 37th District of the
state, and is based in Las Cruces. Jeff has helped forge relationships with the
NM Department of Transportation in their use of recycled materials in projects
and will be a friend to recycling in the the RoundHouse!
www.jeffsteinborn.com
NM Recycling
Awareness Month - November 2006
Events and outreach are underway around
the state in support of NM Recycling Awareness Month, as well as in
celebration of November 15 as America Recycles Day.
NMRAM has 22 state coordinators holding
public recycling collection events (Rio Rancho, Lincoln County), recycling
education and awareness campaigns aimed at their organization's employees or
community, as well as outreach to schools. The NM Environment Department is
launching a statewide battery and cell-phone collection program at all of
their offices around the state.
More than 45 schools are participating as
well, holding school-wide education events, teaching about recycling on the
classroom level and inviting a recycling professional to come speak in the
classroom.
This annual event is made possible under
the join partnership of NMRC and the NM Environment Department: Solid Waste
Bureau, as well as our sponsors Dex, Weyerhaeuser, Sandia Labs, Keep New
Mexico Beautiful and Intel. Thank you sponsors - we couldn't do this without
you!
The Recycling Bin Contest, which is now
in its second year, received a wonderful response with 21 applicants. We
were able to award 12 schools with enough bins to completely start or expand
their programs. Applicants are required as part of their application to
detail completely how the recycling program will be launched, carried out,
collected and then where the material is recycled.
Congratulations to
these
Recycling Bin Contest winners:
Fairacres Elementary, Las
Cruces
Our Lady of the Assumption,
Albuquerque
Annunciation School,
Albuquerque
La Mariposa Elementary,
Santa Fe
Turquoise Trail Charter
School, Santa Fe
Columbia Elementary, Las
Cruces
Anansi Charter School, El
Prado
Roots and Wings Community
School, El Prado
EG Ross Elementary School,
Albuquerque
East Mountain High School,
Sandia Park
Carlos Gilbert Elementary,
Santa Fe
McKinley Elementary School,
Farmington
National Recycling Rate Hits 32%
Americans are recycling more and throwing away
less, according to a new report released by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, which Administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced at NRC's Annual
Congress & Expo in Atlanta. The U.S. recycled 32 percent of its waste in 2005.
Including composting, Americans recycled 79 million tons, representing a 2
percent increase from 2004 and a significant jump from 16 percent in 1990. In
all, Americans generated nearly 246 million tons of municipal solid waste in
2005 – a decrease of nearly 2 million tons from 2004. The decrease is due in
part to the decline in individual waste generation to about 4.5 pounds per
person per day, representing a 1.5 percent decrease from 2004. In addition to
generating less waste, individuals recycled nearly 1.5 pounds per person per
day. You’ll find an executive summary of the report at
www.epa.gov/msw/msw99.htm
Grants
USDA Solid Waste Management
The U.S. Department of Agriculture requests
applications for the Solid Waste Management
Grant Program. This program supports projects
that seek to improve planning and management of
solid waste sites in rural areas, and reduce or
eliminate pollution of water resources in rural
areas. $3.5 million expected to be available, up
to 30 awards anticipated. Responses due
12/31/06. For more info, contact LaVonda Pernell
at (202) 720-9635 or go to:
http://www.usda.gov/rus/water/SWMG.htm
. Refer to Sol# USDA-GRANTS-SWM-092906-001. (Grants.gov
10/2/06)
Recycling Tidbits
AF&PA Seeks Paper Recycling Award Nominations
The American Forest &
Paper Association (AF&PA) is accepting nominations for
its 2007 Recycling Awards at
www.paperrecycles.org.
In 2007, AF&PA will again recognize outstanding
individual, business, community, and school recycling
efforts.
Reduce Junk Mail
http://www.advo.com/consumersupport.html
ADVO describes itself as the nation's leading direct
mail media company, with revenues of nearly $1.4 billion
and shared and solo advertising programs reaching an
average of 67 million households each week.
Coalition of Recycling
Interests Calls for Moratorium on PLA
excerpted from Waste Age (www.wasteage.com)
A group of recycling companies and research
organizations has issued a call for an embargo on
polylactic acid or PLA, a bio-based plastic developed by
NatureWorks. The plastic resin is made from corn, and
the company claims it is compostable, making it ideal
for use in plastic serviceware, which is not usually
recycled. But PLA is also being developed for other
applications, like bottles. Members of the coalition are
concerned that the material has not been sufficiently
tested for recyclability and could be detrimental to the
recycling systems designed for Polyethylene
Terephthalate (PET), the dominant plastic used in
recyclable bottles.
“No recycling
infrastructure exists for plastic cutlery, plates, and
cups,” says Brenda Platt of the Institute for Local
Self-Reliance, in a press release about the coalition.
“We want bio-based companies to focus on replacing
nonrecyclable disposable plastic products such as
polystyrene. Stay away from bottles, which have a
well-established recycling system.”
Jobs
Recycling Association
of Minnesota Seeks New Executive Director
The Recycling Association of Minnesota, an NRC
affiliate, is seeking an executive director to replace Paul Gardner, who was
elected to the Minnesota State Legislature earlier this month. A position
description is available at
www.recycleminnesota.org.
Pennsylvania Recycling
Markets Center
Director III (Executive Director, Recycling
Markets Center)
Date Announced: 10/27/2006
Work Unit: Penn State Harrisburg
Department: School of Science, Engineering and Technology
Job Number: 23713
Ensure the viability of the organization, serve as a liaison for government,
business and industry, develop marketing opportunities and oversee the daily
operations of the Recycling Markets Center (RMC). Provide the primary executive,
strategic, representational, and fundraising leadership for the RMC.
Supervise staff, and build relationships with prospective clients, and service
provider partners and other stakeholders with roles to play in recycling market
development in Pennsylvania. The Executive Director reports jointly to the RMC
Board of Directors and the Director of the School of Science, Engineering and
Technology and will be an employee of The Pennsylvania State University.
Requires Masters degree or equivalent, plus five years of work-related
experience. Superior verbal and written communications skills are required.
Candidate must be an experienced service-oriented individual with a passion and
commitment to waste minimization, recycling, reuse of materials and beneficial
uses of waste streams. Candidate must demonstrate creative vision, the ability
to think innovatively and strategically, and possess dynamic leadership
abilities. Experience related to recycling market development, business and
economic development, technology assistance and/or business financing is
strongly preferred. THIS IS A FIXED-TERM APPOINTMENT FUNDED THROUGH JUNE 30,
2007 WITH EXCELLENT POSSIBILITY OF RE-FUNDING.
If interested, please forward your cover letter and resume to:
Dorothy Guy, Human Resources Director, Penn State University, 777 West
Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057, or via email:
djg1@psu.edu
Calendar
**October
22-25, NRC Congress, Atlanta
**December 8, Recycling
Alliance meeting. 9AM-11AM, Albuquerque. RSVP to
E. Gifford Stack at NMED at
e.gifford.stack@state.nm.us
**Dec 8-9, NMRC Board Retreat
at Sevilleta
**December 12, C&D Recycling
Task Force, 9:30-11 AM, Albuquerque. More info:
english@recyclenewmexico.com
If you have questions about any of the
above information or have articles for future Recycling
Scraps, please e-mail or call me.
English Bird
Executive
Director
New Mexico Recycling Coalition
PO Box 24364, Santa Fe, NM 87502
english@recyclenewmexico.com
(505)
983-4470
Fax (505)
466-6266
