From picture books for toddlers to fact-filled volumes for adults, we’ve compiled a list of great books on recycling and related topics. Read up!
Check out our growing
Suggested Reading List
Recycling / Garbage
Compost / Vermiculture
General Environmental
Additional Links
National Recycling Coalition
The Coca-Cola Company
Staples
State Municipal Solid Waste Data
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Solid Waste
Waste Management/Recycle America
What gets recycled into what? Sometimes it’s exactly what you’d expect. Old corrugated boxes turn into new corrugated boxes. Newspapers? Same pulp, different news. Glass bottles into glass bottles. But some of the end products may surprise you.
These are just a few examples of the thousands of products that are created using recycled materials that would otherwise wind up in our landfills.
First Life/Recycled Life
Glass beverage containers can be recycled over and over again. But they can also be used for other things you may not expect. Like roads. Marbles. Decorative tiles. Surfboards. And a host of other products and materials.
Five PET bottles (plastic soda bottles) yield enough fiber for one extra large T-shirt, one square foot of carpet or enough fiber to fill one ski jacket.
Steel and aluminum cans can be easily recycled for use in other steel and aluminum products. This not only conserves mineral resources, but the recycling process also uses about 75% less energy than using virgin materials. Recycled steel and aluminum finds its way into new cars, bikes, appliances, cookware and a whole lot more.
NRC members are recycling professionals and advocates from every region of the country, in every sector of the waste reduction field. Local recycling coordinators, state and federal regulators, corporate environmental leaders, environmental educators and advocates, and waste management professionals are all members of the NRC.
As an NRC member, you will be a part of the exciting work that we are doing every day to increase and advance recycling. Become a Voice of Recycling!
Our Programs
NRC is working on several exciting projects to benefit our members. We are:
Special Benefits
Every community has its own guidelines for what should and should not be recycled, and how the process should take place. Take a few moments to find out these details. Call your local public works department or recycling organization. That way you can be sure you’re doing your part, and doing it right.
In general, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Cleanliness counts
Rinsing cans and keeping boxes out of the weather makes them easier to process. That keeps costs down.
If supplied with a bin, pay attention to what goes in
Take it upon yourself to be an accurate recycler. A cereal box is probably great, but a greasy pizza box may not be. Maybe milk jugs are good, but not the caps. Check the lid of your recycling bin for guidelines, or make a call or visit your municipal Web site to find out the rules. Then, follow them.
Good bets
Steel cans, aluminum cans, newspapers, magazines, catalogs, junk mail, plastic beverage bottles, milk jugs, glass bottles and jars, cereal boxes, other clean and dry cardboard boxes.
Probably not
Plastic grocery bags, styrofoam, lightbulbs, food-soiled paper, wax paper, ceramics.
DO Recycle Electronics
Recycle your old computers and cell phones. Check out Dell, Staples, and Waste Management/Recycle America websites for information on how you can recycle these items.
Hazardous wastes have their place
Household hazardous wastes like paint cans, motor oil, antifreeze, car batteries, pesticides, pool chemicals, etc., usually need to be disposed of separately. Again, check your community resources and guidelines.
2007 “Recycling Works” Award Gala
NRC honored Dell, Inc. on February 6, 2007 at our Ninth Annual “Recycling Works” Award Gala in Washington, DC. Read the Press Release | More Event Details
NRC Has Moved . . .
Please update your mailing lists for us:National Recycling Coalition
805 15th Street, NW
Suite 425
Washington, DC 20005New Phone: 202-789-1430
New Fax: 202-789-1431
2006 Annual Award Winners
NRC’s honors eleven outstanding people and programs.
NRC members elected John Casella (Casella Waste Systems/FCR Recycling), Tod Arbogast (Dell, Inc.) and Scott Seydel (Seydel Companies) to the NRC Board of Directors. See the new board roster.
ReMix: Recycling Magazines is Excellent
The ReMix Campaign expands to Portland. Read the press release.
Mobius: NRC’s E-Newsletter for Members
Want to get Mobius the second its published? Join the NRC today.
Resources for Members Only
NRC has released a “How to Advocate for Recycling with State and Local Decisionmakers” exclusively for NRC members. Get your copy now.
Update on NRC’s Work with the Beverage Packaging Environment Council (BPEC)
Review the latest information on our work with BPEC and some FAQs that have come up since BPEC’s preliminary research was released at the NRC Congress & Expo in August.
Learn about NRC’s Work and Read Our Press Release on Managing E-Scrap after the Hurricanes
Present: Pat Chase, Angie Fowler, Alana Levine, Carolyn Noack, Pete Pasterz, Michael Youdelman
Not Present: Sheela Backen, Julie Cahillane, Ed Newman, Rob Gogan, Krista Henkels (Minutes taken by Angie Fowler)
1. ABCs
The 27 chapter document needs to be edited and a background check done on references and links to more information to verify facts and figures. Discussion on what to get ready for August review by NRC for presentation to the NRC. It was decided to use the first 5 chapters and 2 more from the body. There was a question about the date the chapters need to be given to the NRC for review. Have ready for the August call.
2. Chapters were assigned as folks volunteered to do them.
#1 Julie
#2 and #25 Contracts Mike
#3 Alana
#4 Angie
#5 Pete
C&D Carolyn
3. Meeting schedule will be moved to 1st Monday’s except for August.
4. Vacancies and schedule to be discussed at future meeting.
5. Baltimore Plans
a. CURC pre-congress site confirmation still not solid but day and workshop program all set. Thanks to Karyn and Pat
b. Steering Committee meeting set for Saturday September 13th, 1-6 p.m. to accomplish a 1-5 or 2-6 meeting. Pete will set agenda. Purpose to meet face to face and strategic planning for upcoming year
c. Ask of group any knowledge of a place for a CURC gathering in Baltimore for Saturday night. Angie and Alana said they would pass on any information they would get from friends familiar with the area.
d. Annual CURC business meeting- membership discussion opportunity proposed for Monday September 15th 4:30-6:30 p.m. before the Orioles game.
e. CURC booth- reduced conference rate to staff the booth, up to two members
Present: Sheela Backen, Julie Cahillane, Pat Chase, Angie Fowler, Alana Levine, Carolyn Noack, Pete Pasterz
Not Present: Ed Newman, Rob Gogan, Krista Henkels, Michael Youdelman
1] SC vacancies
Sheela talked to Jack DeBell about filling one of our steering committee vacancies. Jack was going to call Pete to discuss his interest but has not done so yet. Pete will call Jack again. We also have a vacancy left by Dale. No specific ideas for this position yet. All who were nominated in our election process have been contacted and none who are eligible are interested or available. We can operate with fewer steers if necessary. Full capacity and involved steers make it easier to accomplish our work plan. However, uninvolved steers can hinder our. Pete will contact Michael to see if he is able to stay involved. All of us should be thinking about peers who could for the open position(s).
2] Work Plan and Budget Update
The agenda e-mail had an attachment with our work plan and budget as submitted this year. Pete met with NRCs financial and executive directors to iron out our carry-forward budget. We have not received the quarterly budget statements NRC is supposed to provide since 1999. Pete and the financial director went through our budget, item by item, from the last existing quarterly statement (1999). The bottom line has not been finalized due to a couple lingering discrepancies (mostly related to the regional workshop profit/loss) but we are close. There is also a question of whether or not we are allowed to carry forward the $1000 NRC council allotment if we don’t spend it. Our balance is at least $8,355.29 with potentially $9,000 more once the past fiscal year is finalized and discrepancies are resolved. The other issue Pete discussed with NRC is cash flow restrictions. Our work plan and budget were not included in the NRCs budget and work plan. NRC has asked what our priorities are. Membership and web issues are CURCs biggest priorities, and integrating the ABCs into our web site will be a priority spending item. NRC now has a person working on web site support. Julie and Pete need to talk to Kurt Teichert about his response to our questions about web issues and integrating the ABCs. NRC needs to make some changes to how council funds are reserved and tracked. Also discussed was our membership development plan. One of our targets will be states without an RO agreement or states where the RO agreement has been dropped. This is something we will work on after the NRC congress/workshop/ ABCs issues.
3] Election of Committee chairs/Officers
HOLD till next call since some members are missing today. Angie is interested in the Membership Chair position. Pete is willing to continue as Chair.
a) Regional Reps – HOLD (see above)
4] Baltimore planning
a) Pre congress workshop – Pat has been working on this with Karyn. Timing and agenda have been set. Cost is still up in the air as details for location and food are being confirmed. Pat is checking options in Baltimore (convention center, hotels, etc). The fee for the workshop is dependent on costs involved with putting on the event. Once costs are obtained from all options, Pat will send a comparison spreadsheet to the steers. The workshop this year is being planned as an all day session as opposed to the half-day workshop with a general interest session in the afternoon.
b) SC planning meeting – Historically the steering committee gets together at the NRC congress for a planning meeting. Steers should be thinking about if and when they’d like to have this meeting. In the past, the meeting has been conducted on Saturday.
c) Social/network gathering[s] – Saturday night get-together? Other?
5] ABC’s update
Carolyn and Julie are working on editing the ABCs draft. At 27 chapters with 3 – 14 pages per chapter, we need more than 2 people to work on this. Julie will e-mail a couple chapters to the steers as a sample for input on format, style, etc. Steers should provide feedback and comments so we can determine how to move forward with the editing process. NRC needs to approve any publication we sponsor. There is a plan/hope to present this at NRC in September so our time frame is very tight. If we get short on time, we can consider posting/presenting some but not all chapters in September.
6] Rapid Response plan
Rob is the only one that submitted comments. New steers need some background… For a long time CURC has talked about providing resources and support for struggling campus programs. The letter is a good beginning format and could be tweaked as we go along. Need to make it clear what CURC is and the purpose of the letter. Steers can think about and ask colleagues if they have resources or ideas that could be added to this. We don’t want to get involved with diagnosing specific problems at schools but we don’t want the letter to lack substance either… Need to have an impact without taking sides. CURC can provide resources, support, case studies at other schools, etc. We could have it be something where we respond only if there is a request for support from a CURC member. The member can fill us in on what kind of support is needed and thus CURC can respond accordingly. It should be a member-service not something we decide to pursue without request. Should get the letter in a ready-to-go but generic format so we can share it as a template with people requesting support. It will need to be tweaked for particular situations but we should have something that’s ready and available.
7] Alana has a conflict with our call time. Pete will send an e-mail with options for people to consider for a change in our scheduled call time.
What you can recycle usually depends on where you live and the services offered in your area.
1) The first place you should call when you want to learn how to recycle something is your local recycling, solid waste, environment, or public works department. The names of these departments vary from place to place, but all local governments (i.e., cities, towns, counties) should be able to help you identify the recycling options in your area.
2) You can also ask the company or organization that picks up your garbage or that operates your local disposal facility about recycling options.
3) Your state environmental agency may be able to help. The U.S. EPA maintains a list of these agencies.
4) The store where you originally bought the product may know about recycling options. This is particularly true for durable goods (e.g. furniture, electronics, appliances, etc.)
5) Local and state environmental organizations may be able to help.
Recently, environmental issues have taken on new importance in countless industries, with energy conservation and minimized consumption of natural resources receiving the most public attention. There is an increased awareness of the need to protect the earth’s environment and the reality that each individual can do their part to help achieve this goal.
Meeting planners, hotels, convention centers, and trade-show providers are realizing the importance for eco-friendly practices within the meetings and conventions industry. Event planners are starting to fully consider the importance of environmentally-friendly events as they strive to minimize their events’ environmental impact.
The National Recycling Coalition originally developed its Green Meeting Policy in 2001. The new and updated manual, which includes fresh ideas and strategies, is now available to inform and encourage other individuals and organizations to adopt the environmentally sustainable policies.
The Coalition is also a founding partner of the Convene Green Alliance, a grassroots organization of associations involved and concerned with lessening the environmental footprints of associations and the events they sponsor.
Click here to view our Green Meetings Policy.
Public attention to environmental issues has been invigorated by the development of domestic and global policy to address climate change. In the debate on how best to go forward, we must ensure that the public and decision makers recognize the valuable role that recycling plays in reducing the demand on energy and material resources. We already know that, even under the current US recycling rate of 32% for municipal solid waste, we avoid the emissions of nearly 200 million tons of greenhouse gases, or about 3% of our nation’s total carbon footprint. The expansion of our ability to recover even more materials should be a core component of any policy choices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That will mean incentives to enhance education, infrastructure, and re-use.
NRC intends to be a vital source of education and advocacy on behalf of the recycling community and our common mission. As a first step, NRC has created this information resource for its members and the general public to stay informed on the latest information regarding the value of recycling in a carbon-constrained world, and to assist those in need of advocacy materials for general education and policy development at the federal, state, and local level.
This web page will be a continuing work in progress. We will add new and useful information as it becomes available to us. We also invite interested parties to suggest or provide information that should be included and shared with our members and the public.