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Inside this Issue:
Market Alert
Best Wishes to Kelly
Electronics Rebate Program Bonus
Conference Save the Date
Call Today To Update Your Account
Help for Vermont Flood Victims
Fall Facility Tour Wrap
In The News!
Adam’s Market Update
Annual Meeting Reminder
NRRA Remembers Former Trustee
IT Help from our Intern!
NHtB Grant Info
Vermont News!
MARKET ALERT!!!!
Two weeks ago it was the leaves that were falling ….now it is the recycling markets!
Without putting on my chicken-little costume and saying the sky is falling, please be on alert for potentially significant price softening in Quarter 4 2011 and into 2012! It is our hope that we do not see anything similar to the late 2008 collapse of all markets, and we will keep you posted as markets change. Please contact your member services representative as always for daily pricing for full loads. For all budgeting we encourage you to estimate low for revenue and high for expenses. Single Stream markets are projected to fall given that they are 60-70% fiber. See Adam’s more detailed comments below.
Best Wishes
Every once in a while an opportunity arises that you can’t refuse, for our School Recycling Club Coordinator and Graphic Designer par excellence, Kelly Pearson, that came with her new business venture, Cowabunga!! See the article here that describes the great business opportunity that is sadly taking her away from NRRA. Kelly has been a staunch advocate and ambassador for the School Recycling Club and is a adamant recycler in her own right. She personally made the School Recycling Conferences overwhelmingly successful. We certainly hope to have her help from time to time, both on the school side and the design side, as she has been a great asset for NRRA. We can do nothing but wish her well, wipe our eyes, and know that Cowabunga’s will be a great success for her and the community.
** Check out Cowabunga’s website! Cowabunga’s will be holding an America Recycles Day event from 8:30am to 11:30am on Saturday, November 19th. This will feature open bounce time and recycled crafts, as well as information/presentations from local transfer stations. Great for all ages! **
Kelly – All the best from NRRA!
Electronics Rebate Program Bonus
Thanks to the good work of NRRA Vendor URT, additional pounds are being allowed for the 2010 calendar year under the Samsung program. NRRA member communities will be receiving rebate checks if their material previously shipped in 2010 through NRRA and was not initially covered. The checks will vary in size from $70 +/- to in some cases several thousand dollars of additional revenue for your communities. NRRA will be processing these rebate checks in November and December starting at the annual meeting. You will be notified if your material is part of this rebate program, and you may call your member services representative to double check timing etc. In this small way NRRA is proud to continue to help its members benefit from their recycling efforts.
Save the Date: 31st Annual Northeast Recycling Conference
The conference will be on Monday, June 4th and Tuesday, June 5th at the Radisson Hotel/Center of New Hampshire in Manchester. The theme will be “Being Greener — The Road to Success!” The School Recycling Conference will be held on Tuesday, June 5th! Check our website often for updates on this event!
Call Today to Set up Your Account Review!
NRRA Member Services Representatives are anxiously awaiting your call as we are updating our records for current info on contact personnel, email, fax, phone, snail mail, carrier pigeon and the best way to get in touch with your facility. Any changes in hours, programs, new selectmen, board members or town administrators that you think we may need to keep our growing database up-to-date would be much appreciated. Most importantly this 30 minute phone review will cover your current programs and identify any new ones you may want to consider like the school outreach, rigid plastics, or non-ferrous metals, that you have seen featured here over the last year. Please call and set up a time that works for you; and while you are at it, any suggestions you have for NRRA that will help us better serve you are gratefully accepted.
Look at This!
John Malter, Administrator of the Madbury Solid Waste Alliance in Vermont, not only talks the talk, he walks the walk!
Here is John standing outside his car – note the license plate!!!
Local Maine company steps up to assist Vermont flood afflicted towns !!
A big THANK YOU goes out to one of NRRA’s tire recycling vendors – BDS Waste Disposal of Corrina, Maine. BDS recently showed their support to some of the VT towns that sustained massive flooding damage. BDS picked up hundreds of tires that had been washed up in the recent Hurricane Irene. Thank you BDS!!!
NRRA Fall Facility Tour gets 85+ Attendees NHDES Certification Credits
The NRRA Fall Facility Tour held on 10/12/2011 was a huge hit with over 85 attendees on a beautiful fall day. It Started out at the NRRA office in Epsom with an abbreviated MOM update meeting,
then continued over to Amenico Vegetable Oil Refinery in Pittsfield where the tour split into 4
groups and rotated between tours of the facility there and the BCEP Consolidation Facility also in Pittsfield.
Due to proprietary requirements we were only allowed pictures outside the Amenico facility, but the sun made it a great day outside while waiting for the next group to go through.
Shown to the left is John Keane, Operations Manager for the BCEP Facility and the beautiful bales of material ready for shipment.
More great Consolidation Product ready for Market!
IN THE NEWS: NRRA commends Bob Gallinaro and RMG Enterprises for its commitment to proper recycling.
The importance of proper recycling processes is a key component of NRRA Vendor selection and we applaud Bob and his team for their good stewardship.
(Boston, Mass – October 14, 2011) At an event today, in Londonderry, NH, EPA’s Regional Administrator Curt Spalding, General Services Regional Administrator Bob Zarnetske and other state and local officials toured a New England electronics recycler as part of the Obama Administration’s “National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship” — a strategy for the responsible electronic design, purchasing, management and recycling that promotes the burgeoning electronics recycling market and jobs of the future here in the US. Read more!
Adam’s Market Update!
Good Morning everyone….
Fibers
The fibers markets are undoubtedly on the way down. Despite no change on the Industry standard “Yellow Sheet”, real-world cardboard, newspaper and mixed paper pricing is indeed dropping. Because of this I will refrain to quote specific prices here, though I do encourage you to call in for specific quotes on your material. Given that it is already October 18th, I somewhat doubt we’ll see the Yellow Sheet issue one of its rare mid-month corrections but then again, it would not really surprise me at this point.
Part and parcel with this market decline are the beginning signs of a slow down in movement. That being said, I would just like to encourage towns to give us as much possible notice when booking loads. We haven’t run into any walls yet, but having time on our side certainly helps avoid that when booking loads for pickup.
Scrap
Mirroring the above decline in the fibers markets is a similar fall in the price of scrap metal. Having spent nearly all summer at a constant price, the rumors of a price drop are rumors no longer. A $10 decline seen Monday will nearly certainly be followed by another $10/GT drop next Monday. If you’re reading this right now and your scrap metal container pile is full, go ahead and pick up that phone and let’s see if we can’t get that thing outta there before the weekend.
Plastics
Though we are not yet seeing a widespread price decline in plastics markets (undoubtedly due to the fact that this market more rigidly (pun intended) sticks to monthly pricing), it is certainly expected as we move into November. Again, I will say here, if you have a load, let’s ship it out.
Tin and Aluminum Cans
Oddly enough it seems nowhere are market declines felt as strongly as in the aluminum can market. Perhaps it’s because of the relatively high value? Maybe it’s the familiarity and accessibility of the market? Whatever the case, it seems that when I have market conversations, people tend to say “ooph” when talking about the aluminum can price falling a lot more than the other markets. Well this week is no exception. Word comes in that even the big, heavy, one-stop loads (that are practically unattainable for nearly everyone anyway) are only fetching in the $.75/lb range. What that translates to is lower prices in the $.60-$.65 cent range for everyone else. History tells us this price tends to go up in the winter as consumption goes down, and I know a few of you are already banking on that. Given where the market is already down, if you have room to wait, I think I would do the same.
At last week’s meeting I mentioned steel cans had only fallen approximately $12/GT up to that point in the month. Well, you guessed it; I think that this will be going even further as we finish out this month. I’d say trying to ship out, with a few days to spare before month’s end for travel time to get to the mill, is probably good advice at this point.
Calling all Members! It’s time for the NRRA Annual Meeting
NRRA members are invited to join the staff and trustees of the Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) for its annual meeting and luncheon. The NRRA is YOUR organization, so please plan to attend or send a representative in your place.
The meeting will take place on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 from Noon-2:30 p.m. at the Red Blazer, 72 Manchester Street, Concord, NH.
Each Municipal Member is entitled to only one vote, but you may send as many representatives to the event as you wish. Associate Members do not have a vote, but we welcome and encourage their participation. This Annual Meeting and Luncheon offers a wonderful chance to network with recycling professionals throughout the Northeast.
The cost for the luncheon is $25.00 per person, and pre-registration is required. For more information or to download a registration form, go here. Registration deadline is Wednesday, October 26, 2011.
We look forward to seeing you on Nov. 9th and thank you for your continued support of the NRRA.
DES has added another day of initial training for Solid Waste Operators: Wednesday, November 30, 2011
In response to the influx of new operator applications since the dates for the renewed training classes were announced, DES has scheduled a third training day for November 30th at the DES offices, 29 Hazen Drive, Concord.
The November 4th session is full; all new applicants must attend the November 30th session. However, if earlier applicants would like to attend on November 30th instead of the 4th, they should contact Nelson Ordway at 271-2925 or nelson.ordway@des.nh.gov. Renewing operators may still attend, but unless they have already registered for November 4th, they should call or email to register for November 30th. They may also reschedule to November 30th.
Space in the November 10th session in Lincoln is limited. Priority will be given to new operators from northern towns.
NRRA Remembers former Trustee and friend, Harvey Paquin
Lisbon, NH — Harvey Paquin, 52, died suddenly Monday, October 3, 2011 at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Harvey served on the NRRA Board of Trustees from 2002-2005. Harvey was supervisor of the Lisbon/Lyman/Landaff Transfer Station / Recycling Center and Vice Chairman of the Pemi-Baker Solid Waste District. NRRA wishes to extend our condolences to Harvey’s family.
IT Help from our Intern!
Thank you to Matt “the Backup” Bird from NHTI for helping NRRA with its IT needs.
We would be lost without you!
New Hampshire the Beautiful
New Hampshire the Beautiful Signs
New Hampshire Municipalities are all eligible to apply for signs (60 points each fiscal year or until funds run out). The new fiscal year starts on November 1st, and each town/city will once again have 60 points.
For a complete list of signs available or to apply for signs, please visit www.nhthebeautiful.org. Just print the forms you need and fax them to Paula at (603) 736-4402. Please NOTE!!! You can only order signs that are on the list. Words can be removed, but nothing can be added.
RecycleMobile
To reserve a RecycleMobile for your event, Contact Paula Dow at 1-800-223-0150 or download the form.
The RecycleMobile was developed to help make recycling at special events low-cost, highly visible and efficient. It is a simple to use, eye-catching recycling unit consisting of a fiberglass box with six collection holes (3 per side) that is attached to a 4′ by 6′ trailer and houses six – 32 gallon barrels. You will need a 2″ ball to tow the RecycleMobile.
RecycleMobiles are sponsored by the NRRA and New Hampshire the Beautiful, Inc., along with generous funding from the American Plastics Council, Shop ‘n Save and Hannaford Supermarkets, New Hampshire Soft Drink Association, and the National Soft Drink Association.
Grants
New Hampshire municipalities are all eligible to apply for grants toward the purchase price of recycling equipment. To apply for a grant, go to the NHtB website www.nhthebeautiful.org, print & fill out the form and fax it to Paula at 736-4402. If you do not have access to the internet, please give us a call at 800-223-0150, and we can fax or mail a form to you.
Vermont News
Keep an eye out for the new electronic waste flyers that will be mailed out to all retailers and collection locations. Download a version here.
