SHINING A MEMBER SPOTLIGHT ON

NORM GORDON & ASSOCIATES

This month we want to highlight a long standing member of the Illinois Recycling Association, Norm Gordon and Associates. They are primarily a B2B recycler for a wide array of businesses, not only hauling materials directly to market but also creating partnerships between other recyclers and their clients that have unique items to recycle. NGA was established in the early 1900s and concentrates on paper recycling but also does scrap metal for both industrial and commercial clients. They pride themselves on taking a custom approach tailored to their specific client’s needs, offering turn-key solutions that save money over traditional waste disposal while also meeting increasing business needs to find sustainable practices. Located in the Chicagoland area, they will work throughout Illinois and beyond. For more information on NGA, please visit their website at www.ngarecycling.com

Members of the Illinois Recycling Association enjoy the benefit of spotlighting their Business, Government, Educational Institution or Non-Profit entity in a future Newsletter. If you would like to be featured, please send an email to [email protected]

Recycling Rejects: Metallic Wrapping and Bows

All of us, as Members of the Illinois Recycling Association, want recycling to work and we want to reduce waste. With these goals in mind, we implore you to use your websites, do press releases, use your social media and employee bulletin boards to let everyone in your circle know: Metallic wrapping paper, paper with glitter embedded in it, envelopes with foil inside, along with bows and ribbons, are NOT recyclable. Be sure to choose wrapping that is made from recycled content paper; reuse bags and boxes; never place ribbons, bows or metallic papers in the recycling cart.

News Item: NWRA Gives 2019 Sustainability Partnership Game Changer Award to an IRA Member

The Village of Mount Prospect Public Works and the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC), a member of IRA since their inception, were given the award for their outstanding partnership that resulted in the diversion of 35% of residential waste in 2018 by the residents of Mt. Prospect. The Village of Mount Prospect is a community of 13,595 single-family homes, 8,351 multi-family units and 691 commercial properties and a member of the SWANCC organization for 30 years. SWANCC is an intergovernmental agency comprised of 23 communities. The benefits of this partnership have allowed the Village of Mount Prospect to thrive in recycling, NWRA says. The agency provides Mount Prospect with a range of waste management services including assistance with bidding their residential collection and in-house services. They have held document destruction events seasonal electronic recycling collections.

SWANCC is an active member of IRA and we congratulate them on receiving this award.

News Item: Glass Recycling Coalition Launches MRF Glass Certification

According to a 2018 industry survey, more than 27% of material recovery facilities (MRFs) have glass clean-up equipment. The Glass Recycling Coalition (GRC), a collaborative glass recycling organization, is launching the MRF Glass Certification to recognize effective programs. The free certification program recognizes MRFs with additional equipment and operational procedures to clean up glass in both single and dual stream systems that are producing more marketable and higher quality glass. GRC's website currently hosts an interactive map showing MRFs, glass processors and end-markets across the country. GRC-certified MRFs will be noted on this map along with public recognition of this certification through traditional and social media.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Veto Session ended on November 12th without any of the bills we were watching moving forward to the Governor's desk. The next perfunctory session will begin on January 8, 2020, with Legislative Review Board deadline on January 24. Several bills from last session may get "recycled" for a new chance at passage and we will keep you informed of those, along with any new bills created.

News Item: Electronics Recycling

Do you ever get questions from citizens or customers about what to do with electronics? Even if you don’t offer electronic recycling services, you may want to add a link to your website that will help your clients or community find electronic recycling options. The Illinois EPA has several pages of information in an easy to access format at:

https://www2.illinois.gov/epa/topics/waste-management/electronics-recycling/Pages/default.aspx

In the market for fleet vehicles in 2020?

Be sure to click this link to the federal Department of Energy and EPA’s 2020 Fuel Economy Guide. It could aid in your decision making as it provides fuel and maintenance information for nearly all the vehicles available.

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/pdfs/guides/FEG2020.pdf

Here's how I'm going to beat you. I'm going to outwork you. That's it. That's all there is to it."

Pat Summitt, American College Basketball Head Coach with 1098 Wins.