NRC, RONA link up

By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling

The Recycling Organizations of North America (RONA) and the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) have jointly announced a new plan to cooperate, communicate and work together on a variety of recycling issues.

NRC and RONA announced their intentions in a pre-conference meeting at the annual Resource Recycling Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, August 15 – following up with a public comment meeting for current and potential members of the two organizations. Both groups hope to better identify steps to move recycling forward, improve collaboration at the national, state and local level.

"This plan maps out a strategy that will assure a complementary, rather than redundant, relationship between RONA and NRC, enabling us to once again move recycling forward," said NRC president Mark Lichtenstein.

Marjorie Griek, Chair of RONA, agreed. "We sense a real synergism coming from this partnership that will enhance the stature of sustainable resource management across North America."

NRC and RONA say they will create a steering committee made up of members of both boards and a Recycling Organization representative. The Steering Committee will be tasked with defining how to work together, define roles and responsibilities, determine structure, and fulfill effective member services.

The steering committee will determine the future of a potential annual recycling conference and decide how each group will continue to honor individual contracts and programs. RONA has existing relationships with sponsors of discount programs such as with Rubbermaid, it has advanced work with RONA U on designing new bins for on-campus use and developing best practices and creating zero waste principles for campuses. RONA also has a contractual grant relationship with the U.S. Department of Labor and with colleges throughout North America to create standards for certification for the recycling industry. For its part, NRC maintains its scholarship program and affiliated state organization agreements. NRC also intends to continue its monthly webinar series and the NRC E-News.

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