While we are enjoying summer and all it has to bring, the NYSAR3 conference committee is hard at work planning our annual event held November 14-16. The conference committee, led by Kelli Timbrook and Bodhi Piedmont-Fleischmann, has been reviewing abstracts, discussing sessions that speak to current issues facing all aspects of our work and reaching out for speakers. There will be in-person and virtual options available so as many as possible can join us. Please mark your calendar now and be on the lookout for information, including our special pre-conference focus sessions, coming out soon. We, of course, are always looking for vendors and sponsors who enable NYSAR3 to keep the cost as affordable as possible. For more information, click here.
We are also in the process of our chapter Board position elections and elections for our At-Large Board members, which will take place during the Annual Conference this fall. To find out more about getting involved, please talk to your chapter representative or contact me at president@nysar3.org.
You will find out more about what has been going on with our organization and its members in other stories, which include a recap of the first NYS Reuse Summit. This event was a collaborative effort of Syracuse University's Center for Sustainable Community Solutions, Finger Lakes ReUse, the NYS Center for Sustainable Materials Management, the Susan Christopherson Center for Community Planning, and NYSAR3. Speaking of reuse, you won’t want to miss the announcement about this year’s Community Reuse Grant!
Have a great rest of the summer and hope to see you (in person or virtually) at our fall conference!
Gary Carrel
NYSAR3 President
|
|
Hybrid Conference | November 14-16, 2022
Otesaga Resort Hotel, Cooperstown, NY
The 33rd Annual Conference will be moving forward as a hybrid event hosted in-person at the Otesaga Resort and through the virtual platform, Whova.
NYSAR3 is pleased to offer our membership and networks the opportunity to continue expanding their knowledge and receive pertinent information with regards to our industry.
Rooms are available at the historic Otesaga Resort Hotel in the conference block at the discounted rate of $165 per night per room, plus applicable taxes (unless tax exempt).
Two ways to reserve:
- Guests can call the Reservations Office at 607-353-6906. They just need to mention the group name "NYSAR3" and dates to get the special rate
-
Guests can go to otesaga.com 24/7 and use online code 3534614 (please note this code is only for online and can’t be used when calling in)
Conference Registration
We are happy to offer our members discounted conference rates and will be opening early bird registration very soon! Stay tuned for conference announcements and attendee registration through the virtual platform, Whova.
If you are interested in receiving the discounted registration, make sure your membership is up to date and if you aren't already a NYSAR3 member, visit our website to view a full list of membership benefits and sign up today!
|
|
Conference Exhibitor Opportunities |
|
Registration for Exhibitors and Sponsors is now open!
No matter which exhibitor or sponsor opportunity fits your needs, we have developed this year's annual conference to provide the best exposure for you and our participating attendees. The conference agenda has built-in breaks throughout the event when attendees, both in-person and virtual, are encouraged to browse the exhibit hall.
Sponsor and exhibitor benefits include:
- Networking with public and private sector recycling staff
- Interactive in-person vendor show & virtual booth opportunities
- Modest booth and sponsorship costs
- Timely technical and educational session topics
- Planned events and breaks in the exhibit hall to promote networking
- World class resort setting near the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Exhibitor/Sponsor exposure before, during and after the event
View the full Exhibitor package to learn about available sponsorship levels and the in-person floor plan.
To register please fill out the Vendor/Sponsor Form and contact Lisa Ruggero at Lisa@nysar3.org with any questions.
|
|
2022 Community Reuse Grant Now Open! |
|
NYSAR3 and the New York State Center for Sustainable Materials Management is proud to announce we are offering the Community Reuse Grant for the second year running!
After receiving a high level of interest in our first year of offering the grant in 2021, we are excited to see what the 2022 awardees will do with this opportunity. The Community Reuse Grant was created to offer community groups, partnerships, businesses, and nonprofits the money necessary for projects that will improve community quality of life and ensure stewardship of the environment. Previous applicants have proposed projects involving reuse swaps, textiles, batteries, organics, musical instruments, reuse in the arts, or repair cafes. The grant can be awarded for $5,000 to one winner or a total of five grants of $1,000 each, at the discretion of the judges.
|
|
On April 5th and 6th, the 2022 NYS Organics Summit was held at the Albany Capital Center in Albany, NY. The day-and-a-half event was attended by approximately 220 individuals, featured a variety of sustainable organics management topics, and concluded with a tour of the Town of Bethlehem's compost facility. CLICK HERE for more information and CLICK HERE to view session recordings. The planning committee offers a special thanks to Gary Feinland for his outstanding leadership and support of this important annual event since he helped to establish it back in 2015.
NYS Compost Awareness Week 2022 was celebrated from May 1st through May 7th with the theme “Recipe for Regeneration: Compost”. More than 120 local partners from across NY participated in monthly virtual planning meetings and helped to organize numerous educational activities and events for their communities. CLICK HERE for more details.
The Long Island Organics Council (LIOC) continues to grow and expand its activities. LIOC’s mission is to “support individuals and organizations in recovering and composting their organic waste by facilitating building relationships, sharing best practices/challenges/resources, and creating opportunity for collective action.” LIOC meets every other month and often features experts from the sustainable organics management field. CLICK HERE for LIOC’s Facebook page. If you are interested in learning more, email liorganicscouncil@gmail.com.
The NYS Organics Council is partnering with MakeSoil.org on a second iteration of the NYS Food Scraps Drop-Off map, which has been viewed more than 27,000 times since launching in March of 2020. This innovative crowd-sourced platform allows residents to sign up as “Soil Makers” who offer to compost the food scraps of their neighbors, thus helping to fill local processing gaps.
If you have questions about the Organics Council or would like to become a member, please contact Chairperson Jesse Kerns at jekerns@syr.edu.
|
|
W4R - NYSAR3 Women’s Leadership Committee
|
|
Check out our women’s leadership committee! W4R, or Women for Reduction, Reuse, Recycling, and Rethinking Strategies for Managing Materials is a NYSAR3 Committee working on connecting women at all stages of their education and careers through a variety of in-person and online opportunities. We provide opportunities to connect through featured speakers, panels, group dialogue, mentorship, and professional development.
Who are we in W4R? We are women in the 4R industry from the public and private sectors. We are men who value women and minority leaders’ perspectives. We are LGBTQIA members of the 4R industry. We are all people that believe in a more equitable future for the 4R industry.
Since 2018, the core of what we do is to provide a platform to share our stories and experiences working in the industry. We believe that our collective stories will empower us to continue transforming our industry through female leadership. All are welcome to join us!
Recently, we had our first Meet the Auth-HER event with Lily Baum Pollans, author of Resisting Garbage: The Politics of Waste Management in American Cities;
where we read the book and met the author during one of our W4R meetings.
If you’d like to join W4R or missed the first Meet the Auth-HER event, you can find more information here.
|
|
The 2022 Reuse Summit was a first-of-its-kind meeting of about 160 individuals throughout New York State coming together to learn and speak on innovation in the reuse industry.
The summit was enjoyed by attendees both in person in Ithaca, NY and virtually. Sessions included topics such as reuse and human rights, deconstruction, the non-profit CR0WD, New York state reuse centers, reuse & salvage in Ithaca, and of course a deep dive into the community reuse model of the Finger Lakes Reuse Center.
An attendee had this to say about the event:
"Learning about the work that the various speakers are doing was very educational and inspirational." In agreement with this sentiment, another attendee commented “I got the distinct feeling that reuse as a materials management strategy is finally getting the attention it has so richly deserved for way too long."
Overall, it is clear the Summit was enjoyed by all and will hopefully inspire more reuse projects throughout our communities.
|
|
NYS Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Stewardship Program |
|
NYSAR3 is proud to partner with Syracuse University, Center for Sustainable Community Solutions (CSCS) on the NYS Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Stewardship Program. The NYS SMM Stewardship Program offers students the opportunity to learn fundamental concepts and principles of SMM that aim to positively benefit people, the environment, and the economy through materials reduction, reuse, and recycling. Upon completion of two initial training sessions, students act as SMM Stewards by conceptualizing and implementing hands-on projects that strategically educate and integrate SMM practices into schools, organizations, businesses, and communities throughout NYS. NYSAR3 is a major partner as this program moves forward to help connect students to NYSAR3 members and networks.
Congratulations to this year’s students for completing the program and implementing semester projects that focused on various outreach and education projects that include storytelling through media, organics management in schools, Reuse outreach database collection + development, and SMM lesson plans with in-person events. Through this program, students deepened their understanding of SMM, applied theoretical knowledge from the classroom, developed leadership skills, and gained professional experience.
Each year, the NYS SMM Stewardship Program recruits students during the fall semester, with training and project implementation taking place throughout the spring semester. We congratulate 18 stewards that have completed the 2022 NYS SMM Stewardship Program! Student participants represented NYS Colleges and Universities across the entire state including Cornell University, Syracuse University, RIT, Alfred University, Saint Bonaventure University, SUNY ESF, SUNY Albany, SUNY Plattsburgh, and SUNY Purchase.
|
|
College Council Grant Winner |
|
The College Council has awarded $5000 to SUNY University at Buffalo, Sustainability Department for their submission of The Food Safe Buffet Kit.
The Kit will offer student groups, faculty, and staff food safety supplies for buffet food which would make the food eligible for food recovery and safe to be donated to local community partners rather than being thrown out, per the NYS Food Donation and Food Scraps Law. Food waste at the University is a large problem. With the creation of the UB Chapter of the Food Recovery Network in November of 2020, student volunteers were tasked with helping to reduce food waste in University operated dining halls. The Food Safety Buffet Kit is the solution to addressing food waste problems and to develop a better way to reduce food waste on the UB campus. This Kit includes guidelines on how to serve food safely and how to protect the food, in such a manner that after the event concludes, the food will be safely recovered and donated in accordance with all NYS Servsafe rules. The Kit a variety of restaurant grade equipment that will be used after the event to package the food items for delivery in accordance with the Food Donation and Food Scraps Law. In addition, the Kit includes informational material on the negative impacts of food waste on our environment and highlights the importance of reducing food waste on campus and and how it helps to reach our strategic sustainability goals as a University.
This excerpt was taken and edited to fit this format from the submitted College Council abstract written by Erin Moscati from SUNY University at Buffalo. To learn more about the program, please reach out to Erin Moscati at emoscati@buffalo.edu.
|
|
CREF Scholarship Winner at SUNY ESF |
|
The Compost Research & Education Foundation offers annual scholarships to college students to assist with their compost research projects. The scholarship is for $4,000, and includes an invitation to present research findings at a US Composting Council Annual Conference during a CREF research session.
This year's winners are Maryam Saffari Aman and Grant Goedjen.
- Maryam is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Environmental Resources Engineering at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Her research project will involve characterizing the prevalence and persistence of PFAS in commercially available compost.
- Grant is is a doctoral candidate with the University of Minnesota's Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering department. Their areas of research interest include environmental chemistry fate and transport of emergent anthropogenic compounds focusing on pesticides and insecticides
|
|
Finger Lakes ReUse Presents at the New York State Reuse Summit |
|
On Thursday, June 16, the first ever New York State Reuse Summit was held in Ithaca at Cinemapolis.
The summit was a collaboration between Syracuse University's Center for Sustainable Community Solutions (CSCS), Finger Lakes ReUse, the NYS Center for Sustainable Materials Management (CSMM), the Susan Christopherson Center for Community Planning, and the NYS Association for Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling (NYSAR3). Finger Lakes ReUse was honored to participate in the event. We shared a video as well as live presentations at the Summit with inspiring stories from our staff, volunteers, and community partners. Participants also heard presentations about other reuse efforts in NY state and the connections between reuse and social, environmental, and community justice.
|
|
New Paint Recycling Facility |
|
GreenSheen Paint is now processing latex paint for recycling at a new facility in Rotterdam, NY!
GreenSheen is a Colorado based latex paint recycler and recycled content paint manufacturer. With over 12 years of experience, GreenSheen has created a proprietary process for refining leftover latex paint to produce a high-quality recycled content paint sold at a fraction of the cost of new paint. There are four GreenSheen facilities in Colorado, Arizona, Washington, and now New York. The leftover latex paint recycled is received through retail drop-off sites established through the state's paint stewardship program and through collection events and large volume pickups. If you have 100 gallons or more of leftover latex and/or oil-based paints, GreenSheen will come pick it up for free through the large volume pick-up service. Or you can visit a retail drop-off site to get rid of smaller amounts of paint for free. You can call (518) 357-3229 to schedule a large volume pick-up or visit www.paintcare.org to find a drop-off site.
GreenSheen is pleased to announce the additional exciting news, within the next few months, we will also begin to recycle the plastic paint cans and buckets received back into paint containers for our product. Previously, at our established facilities, containers were sent to landfills because traditional recyclers wouldn’t process this waste stream due to residual paint contamination. GreenSheen has now purchased industrial shredders for three of our facilities so we can shred plastic and send it off to be recycled back into containers. Closing the loop on our container supply chain, while diverting more waste from landfills, aligns with our drive to be as sustainable as possible and is an operation we look forward to beginning!
|
|
Rebuilding Faith in Recycling |
|
Recycling has taken a big hit as media stories about market disruptions, cutbacks to local programs, and revelations about contaminated recyclables going to the landfill have reinforced an impression that recycling is “broken” or even a fraud. Despite the very-real problems that exist, recycling remains a resilient and critical element in building a circular economy. But even as markets bounce back, there is a long-term risk that negative perceptions of recycling will cause many to question why they should bother. In this blog, Alec Cooley argues that we need to focus more public messaging on rebuilding the public’s faith in recycling. That it is, in fact, worth the effort.
|
|
Yonkers – Doing Our Best to Increase Recycling Citywide |
|
The City of Yonkers, under the leadership of Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, has and continues to make tremendous strides toward increasing its recycling efforts!
In April of 2022, the Department of Public Works introduced its Food Scrap Recycling Program in collaboration with Westchester County. The City has since seen a rise in weekly drop-offs to our Recycling Center, averaging 290lbs of food scraps per week! In an effort to promote and improve access to the Food Scrap Recycling Program, Yonkers is exploring additional drop-off locations to better accommodate senior citizens and residential buildings.
Along with the food scraps, Yonkers is expanding its recycling program by teaming up with Paintcare, a company that recycles household paint. Rather than having residents dry out their paint and mix it with solid waste, we can now collect the paint from residents “as is” and properly recycle it. Not only will this initiative benefit residents in providing convenience, it will have a meaningful impact on our environment by keeping paint out of landfills.
The City of Yonkers’ Recycling Center continues to grow its list of items permitted for drop-off. E-Waste, fluorescent bulbs, batteries, tires, propane tanks, clothing, solid waste, cardboard, and commingles, are all among the many items the Recycling Center accepts. Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano’s administration has developed a program to bring the Recycling Center to different neighborhoods on a monthly basis. These developments have led to a dramatic rise in recycling efforts and cleaner neighborhoods throughout the City.
As the third largest City in New York State, Yonkers’ efforts are critical to the betterment of the environment and a healthier, cleaner New York State. Each day our team works tirelessly to not only promote recycling and keep our streets clean, but to research and adopt new incentives to protect our environment.
|
|
EcoVerde Organics, LLC (EVO) is excited to announce that, after a long search and approval process for a new site, we have re-opened our compost operations at 396 Wright Road, Akron! EVO’s vision is to enhance the water, land and air quality of our region by recycling organic waste, minimizing the use of chemical fertilizers and improving soil health. To realize this vision, we provide tote-based food scraps collection service and produce quality soil amendments from a diverse mix of organic materials.
The registered facility is convenient to both the Buffalo and Rochester markets, located just ten minutes from the Pembroke exit of the NYS Thruway. With building space and a larger open area than our first site, EVO is now able to accept material from any truck type and process larger quantities of material as well as serve a broader market.
We look forward to serving our regional communities and may be reached at (716) 209-3166x1 or info@ecoverdecompost.com.
|
|
Finger Lakes ReUse Honored with Fischer Award & Tree Planting |
|
On May 26, Finger Lakes ReUse was honored by the Town of Ithaca to be the 19th recipient of the Richard Fischer Environmental Conservation Award. Several Bur Oaks trees were planted throughout Tareyton Park with a special tag of the organization’s name attached.
"It’s such an honor to be recognized by the Town of Ithaca for the work that we’re
doing,” said Finger Lakes ReUse Executive Director Diane Cohen. “I love the symbolic
nature of planting a tree to create a healthy system and build a better future."
|
|
Bottles for a Cure is dedicated to returning as many cans and bottles as possible to raise funds for breast cancer research. Founder Laurence Segal, and Upstate Medical Campus Police Chief Paul Waltz, have partnered together to help Bottles for a Cure become the largest monetary donor in the Syracuse region raising money for the American Cancer Society. Not only are cans and bottles being recycled but aluminum can tabs are being delivered to a recycling facility, where all profits have been donated to the Central NY, Ronald McDonald House.
If you are in the Syracuse region, consider dropping off your cans and bottles at 2312 Erie Blvd E. and take part in a great initiative!
|
|
FoodScraps360 to Compost at City of Albany Event |
|
Starting this summer, FoodScraps360 has begun working with the City of Albany to offer composting services at a number of city events and festivals. Starting off this partnership with a bang, FoodScraps360 and volunteers from Zero Waste Capital District collected more than 2000 pounds of compostable materials and food waste from both vendors and event goers at Tulip Fest, a massive two day event. This amount of food waste has since enriched the compost offered at the Town of Bethlehem’s Composting Facility, and the greenhouse gas emissions diverted represents nearly 154 days of electricity for one single-family household.
FoodScraps360 is a woman-owned food waste collection service and environmental educator, servicing Albany, Troy, and Schenectady counties, as well as Clifton Park. Their services include residential, commercial, schools, and municipality curbside pickup of food waste and other organic and compostable materials. Currently, FoodScraps360 collects and hauls food waste from the Alive at Five outdoor concert series, and looks forward to servicing Jazz Fest.
|
|
On-Site Anaerobic Digestion Coming to New York |
|
HomeBiogas is entering the New York and New Jersey area, with planned installations to come online in 2023. Our newest offering, an onsite commercial biogas system is aimed at commercial organic waste producers such as hotels, restaurants, schools, and multi-family houses, converting up to 1 ton of waste per day on-site while producing clean energy. HomeBiogas, based in Israel, has worldwide installations of small-scale biogas systems. The systems use anaerobic digestion to convert organic waste into gas used for cooking or water heating and into bio-fertilizer, reducing the costs and emissions associated with sending food waste to landfills. The Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell University recommends HomeBiogas systems as one of the easiest and most efficient systems for the local treatment of organic waste in New York City.
|
|
Why Do Commercial Businesses Compost? |
|
Mr. T Carting has been collecting food waste for composting and anaerobic digestion since 2003. Each year, their customers in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn divert over 8,000 tons of organic material from their trash. They’re frequently asked why these businesses participate or “What motivates a company to set up a successful food waste diversion program?” They’ve broken down the four motivations their customers have to implement food diversion programs:
- Have To + Want To’s understand that food shouldn’t be left to waste, that operating food waste diversion programs help meet NYC’s Climate Goals, and that it saves them money. 10% of Mr. T Carting’s organic diversion clients are in this category.
- Have To + Don’t Want To’s come in many different shapes and sizes. In Mr. T Carting’s customer base, they are often restaurants subject to NYC commercial organics requirements. Many eventually embrace the composting requirement. 10% of Mr. T Carting’s organic diversion clients are in this category.
- Don’t Have To + Want To’s (Climate Motivated) understand that food waste diversion is a tool to use against climate change. They are motivated to maintain operationally successful food waste diversion programs because the environment depends on it. 10% of Mr. T Carting’s organic diversion clients are in this category.
- Don’t Have To + Want To’s (Money Motivated) understand that food waste diversion is a tool they can use to save money. They are motivated to maintain food waste diversion programs that are operationally successful because their bottom line depends upon it. 70% of Mr. T Carting’s organic diversion clients are in this category.
In truth, most of Mr. T Carting’s clients are likely a combination of all four categories. Regardless of their motivations, Mr. T Carting encourages all businesses to jump on the organic diversion bandwagon.
|
|
UCRRA Celebrates 10 years of Composting |
|
The UCRRA Organics Recovery Facility began as a small pilot project in 2012, and is celebrating its ten-year composting anniversary this August! The UCRRA Organics Recovery Facility has composted over 46 million pounds of source-separated organics from our partnerships with businesses, schools, and municipalities since the program's inception in 2012. If this organic material had been landfilled instead of composted, it would have required 668 tractor trailer trips to the Seneca Meadows Landfill in Seneca Falls, NY, a total of 320,000 miles (driving the earth's surface 13 times) and over 63,000 gallons of diesel fuel. We're reflecting on how far we've come from humble beginning in our compost pilot project, and looking to the future to continue to grow capacity and divert organics from disposal. We invite you to learn more about our program, which was named Small Scale Compost Manufacturer of the Year in December 2021 by the US Composting Council.
|
|
Signage Placed Above Bins Improves Recycling |
|
When it comes to recycling and waste bins in public spaces most program managers are familiar with best practices like using color distinction and restrictive openings. A 2019 project by the University of Georgia (UGA) demonstrated another, less recognized practice: placing signage above the bin.
This blog reviews the findings of the UGA project and other academic research showing how signage at or close to eye level provides a visual prompt that can improve recovery and reduce contamination by 20% or more.
|
|
2021 Community Reuse Grant Winners |
|
As reuse has become an ever-growing topic on the minds of all New Yorkers, the board members of NYSAR3 created a grant to specifically target improving reuse in our communities. In 2021 the $5,000 Community Reuse Grant sponsored by the NY State Center for Sustainable Materials Management was launched and received 16 highly varied applications. The judges awarded:
-
$1000 to the Elizabethtown Thrift Shop. The Elizabethtown Thrift Shop is a non-profit charity of 48 volunteer retired women who applied for the grant to purchase new tools and supplies in order to continue their work of salvaging reusable items from abandoned homes.
-
$2000 to The Dumtique in Bethel, NY. The Dumptique is located at the local transfer station in Bethel, NY and requested grant funds to use toward a permanent tent structure which could be solar powered by the landfill solar farm.
-
$2000 to Starflower Experiences of Wyandach, NY. Lastly, Starflower Experiences: Free Trade Zone Events is a non-profit on Long Island working to assist members in their small, low-income, minority community. Starflower Experiences requested grant funds to use toward more storage for free swap events.
All of the awardees and applicants had amazing projects and we are excited to see who the 2022 awardees will be!
|
|
NYS Assn for Reduction, Reuse & Recycling
1971 Western Ave, #1180
Albany, NY 12203-5066
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
