National Recycling Coalition Conference

With more than 30 New Mexican attendees, we had a great showing at the Denver National Recycling Coalition Congress last week, September 16-19. Sessions ranged from climate change, organics recycling, legislative updates, the rebranding of recycling campaign, rural recycling, and zero waste.

Presentations from the conference should be posted soon at www.recyclingconference.org .

Lastly, English Bird, NMRC's Executive Director, was elected to serve on the National Recycling Coalition's board.

New Mexico Recycling Awareness Month - Deadline October 1

It's that time of year again for community, business, school and facility coordinators to plan their November recycling awareness month events.

Please register online by October 1 at www.recyclenewmexico.com/NMRAM_2007.htm

New for local coordinators this year:

1) PowerPoint on "Recycling and Sustainability". An excellent tool to present to elected officials, community leaders, neighborhood groups, and businesses. Presentation developed by New Mexico Environment Department: Solid Waste Bureau.

2) PowerPoint Recycling 101 for Community Members, which details the traditionally recycled items in any community, what it becomes after recycling, what it saves in energy and water usage, and other useful introductory concepts. Presentation developed by Navajo Nation Solid Waste Management Department.

Other NMRAM Support:

1) Recycled-content give-aways generously provided by Dex: Rulers, Pen, Pencils, Pencil Sharpeners and Highlighters

2) America Recycles Day posters

3) General recycling educational resources and information

Greater Albuquerque Media Campaign

The newest component to this year's NMRAM events will be a multi-media campaign based in the Greater Albuquerque area. NMRC has raised funds to bring in a recycling awareness blast in the months of November & December with billboards, bus-sides, TV, radio and print venues. We will announce the campaign message and its final venues! We have confirmed Mayor Martin Chavez's participation as our spokesperson for radio and TV PSAs.

NMRAM Sponsors

Without our sponsors this annual campaign would not be possible! Muchas gracias to the following sponsors, ink-kind supporters and partners:

City of Albuquerque

Intel

Waste Management

Weyerhaeuser

Dex

Sandia National Laboratory

Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation

New Mexico Environment Department: Solid Waste Bureau

Keep New Mexico Beautiful

Enchantment Electronic Recycling

Durango McKinley Paper Company

Guaranteed Recycling Xperts

Lamar Transit Ad Agency

Clear Channel

KOAT-TV

Citadel Radio

Univision

PNM Launches Refrigerator Recycling Program 

PNM received approval from the N.M. Public Regulation Commission (PRC) to offer a variety of electric energy efficiency programs designed to put the power to save money and energy in the hands of its electric customers.

“To encourage our customers to reduce energy use, we offer simple ways people can participate and save money, while creating a cost-effective energy resource,” said Pat Vincent, PNM Resources utilities president. “When you use less energy, you also reduce your impact on the environment.”  

The new programs will be launched this fall, starting with a refrigerator-recycling program. When purchasing a new refrigerator, many people keep their older one, which was typically manufactured before current energy efficiency standards were put into place. Getting rid of that inefficient second refrigerator can save an estimated $100 annually on electric bills. PNM will offer free pick-up, environmentally responsible recycling and a $30 rebate.  

PNM will work with retailers throughout its service territory to promote the sale of compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) through discounts.  Because CFLs use 75 percent less energy, replacing 10 incandescent bulbs with 10 CFLs could shave $41 a year off a residential electric bill.  The average PNM electric bill is $52 per month. 

Vincent said energy efficiency measures like switching to CFLs or getting rid of an old refrigerator continue to yield savings on electric bills not just this year, but in the future.  

The new PNM programs also include a $500 rebate for builders who build ENERGY STAR®-certified homes, a free program for low-income customers to install energy-saving measures in their homes, a rebate program for customers who use energy-efficient advanced evaporative coolers and a load management program.  The latter is a cost-effective approach used by many utilities to reduce demand when temperatures rise and the need for electricity is at its peak.  PNM customers will get a rebate for voluntarily participating next summer. The program works by allowing the utility to signal refrigerated air units and non-critical business equipment to cycle on and off briefly, lowering demand on the system without significantly affecting comfort or interfering with business processes. 

The Sierra Club will partner with PNM to pilot a CFL-exchange and energy efficiency education program for students in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, an idea that came from an informal PRC workshop on energy efficiency held in May.  The PRC also asked PNM to work with Community Action New Mexico on an additional low-income program proposal for inclusion in its 2008 energy efficiency filing.

The company will recover the cost of the energy efficiency programs through a 1.27 percent charge on monthly bills. The surcharge will cover PNM’s costs of running the programs and nothing more.  

Together, PNM customers who participate could save 26 million kilowatt-hours over the useful life of the measures they take in just one year, enough to power 3,632 average PNM homes. Producing that much energy today creates CO₂ emissions roughly equivalent to that created by 3,200 cars in a year.

Go to www.PNM.com for more information.

Start your Recycling Collection Program with Cardboard Boxes from PNM

Free recycling boxes are available from PNM for use at events, schools, churches and nonprofit organizations. They can be used to collect daily recycling in buildings, or brought out for special events in your community. The boxes are 18" x 18" x 30". Go to www.PNM.com/environment and click on "Community Recycling Program".

Keep New Mexico Beautiful Grants Announced

KNMB will be accepting grant applications until December 7th, 2007 for proposals of up to $800. KNMB is non-profit organization that is dedicated to promoting and educating New Mexicans about beautification, Xeriscape, graffiti eradication, litter control, recycling, community stewardship, volunteerism and pride in our state.

KNMB will also recognize NMRC at their annual awards ceremony for the work accomplished on the "New Mexico Construction and Demolition Recycling Guide", of which KNMB was a sponsor through their grant program.

Go to www.knmb.org for more information and to download the grant application.

Rio Rancho Mini-Grant Program

Keep Rio Rancho Beautiful is now accepting applications for our annual Mini-Grant Program. Deadline is November 16th. For more information visit our website at:
http://www.ci.rio-rancho.nm.us/index.asp?NID=717

Recycling Program at State’s Runnels Building Doubles the Amount of Recyclables Diverted from Landfills

Harold Quintana uses one of the recycling stations in the NMED Runnels Building 

(Santa Fe, NM)  Results from a four-month-old recycling program conducted at the state of New Mexico Runnels Building show the amount of recyclables diverted from the garbage dumpster ― and ultimately the Caja del Rio landfill — has doubled since the building switched to the City of Santa Fe’s collection program.

The 174,092-square-foot building at 1190 St. Francis Dr. in Santa Fe Runnels Building is home to the New Mexico Department of Health and the Environment Department (NMED). “The Environment Department’s efforts show workers can make a big difference in the amount of trash that can be removed from landfills by recycling,” said NMED Deputy Secretary Cindy Padilla. “We made a commitment to do as much as possible to protect the environment in our everyday actions.”

The rewards from recycling range from saving landfill space, conserving natural resources and energy, producing jobs, and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  According to NMED Environmental Protection Division Director Jim Norton, recycling does that in three ways.  Decreased energy demand through recycling feedstocks rather than using virgin materials equals fewer fossil fuels burned, resulting in less CO2 emitted to the atmosphere.  Recycling also saves trees, which absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in wood.  Recycling diverts materials from ending up in the landfill, where methane is produced as a result of decomposition.  In fact, recycling in the US in 2005 reduced the GHG equivalent to removing over 39.6 million cars from the road per year.  Recycling in New Mexico last year resulted in the GHG equivalent to removing 101,657 cars from the road.

In addition to white office paper, employees at Runnels are now able to recycle mixed paper (including newspapers, junk mail and catalogues), beverage containers, and corrugated cardboard.  The building went from collecting 1.5 tons of mostly white office paper per month to almost three tons of paper and containers.  The City of Santa Fe collects the materials and takes them to the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station for processing.

The state wants to expand the program to other state-owned buildings in Santa Fe because of the success in recycling at Runnels.

For more information about the Runnels recycling program call Jill Holbert at (505) 827-0129 or Jill.Holbert@state.nm.us.  For information about the City’s recycling collection services, call the Solid Waste Division at (505) 955-2200.

Recycling Logo Contest for Santa Fe

The Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency is hosting a design competition to develop a logo for recycling in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. The winning designer will receive a $3,000 cash prize.

The logo will include Recycle! Santa Fe. Designs are due November 9th by noon. For design and contest rules, go to www.sfswma.org/faq.html under News Headlines on the right or call 505-424-1850 x420.

New Mexico Recycling and Illegal Dumping Grant Announcement

The New Mexico Recycling and Illegal Dumping Alliance and NMED are very pleased to announce the opening of a second 2007 grant cycle for recycling and illegal dumping proposals.  Please Note:  Grant applications must be returned by Monday, October 1, 2007! 

The following are eligible to apply:  New Mexico municipalities and counties; solid waste authorities; pueblos, tribes, and Indian nations; land grant communities; and cooperative associations.  The next grant cycle in 2008 will close on April 1, 2008. For instructions and application forms, please go to: www.nmenv.state.nm.us/SWB/. For questions, please contact Jill Holbert, NMED Solid Waste Bureau, at 827-0129, or e-mail at jill.holbert@state.nm.us.