CSMM at 2022 Annual NYSAR3 Conference
The Center for Sustainable Materials Management (CSMM) and Syracuse University Center for Sustainable Community Solutions (CSCS) is proud to have partnered with the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling (NYSAR3) to deliver programming to the NYS sustainable materials management (SMM) community at the 2022 Annual NYSAR3 Conference & Trade Show.
On November 14th, 2022, 80 SMM Professionals from across the Northeast, gathered and arrived at the opportunity to expand their outreach and engagement toolkit while simultaneously increasing their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) skills at the pre-conference day session titled, “Creating Inclusive Community Engagement and Outreach”. Led by Melissa Young, Director of Resource Conservation Initiatives at CSCS, the full day was geared towards co-learning and supporting recycling leaders. During this session, there were multiple presentations highlighting the latest SMM related outreach and engagement efforts from across New York State. Among the presenters were Jesse Kerns and Savannah Betkowski from CSCS, who shared their work with the NY Sustainable Materials Management Stewardship Program which advances SMM awareness by empowering college students to create an impact within communities and the industry. Additionally from CSCS, Lisa Ruggero and Lindsay Eberhart shared about the ongoing Recycle Right New York campaign and Outreach and Engagement Training Program which supports recycling coordinators and community leaders in their endeavors to educate and empower residents in New York and Puerto Rico on SMM. CSMM and CSCS engaged other community leaders from across NYS to present on their diverse and creative outreach and engagement programming including the City of Troy (small city), Town of Bethlehem (large town), GreenFeen Organics from the Bronx (large city), and Clinton County Dept of Health (rural county). As the day came to a close, the session featured input from The Mclean Consulting Group on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, which gave way to powerful dialogue and creative networking.
On November 15th, the NYSAR3 conference officially commenced, and the Center for SMM was proud to host one of the final sessions of the day. Moderated by Mark Lichtenstein, Principal Investigator at the Center for SMM, the evening session provided audience members with research updates directly from CSMM’s partner universities from across the state working on SMM topics related to fibrous materials, glass, waste characterization analysis and plastics recycling behaviors.
Doug Daley from the Center for SMM at SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry (SUNY-ESF) shared their ongoing research effort to identify and develop new approaches for the use of non-recyclable paper materials, commonly known as “waste reject fibers” or “waste fines,” obtained from the recycled linerboard mills that manufacture packaging paper from old corrugated containerboard (OCC). Furthermore through this effort, the Center is working to identify the barriers to, and the opportunities for, using non-marketable paper as a compost feedstock at New York State-based composting facilities.
Additionally from the Center for SMM, at SUNY-ESF and on behalf of Bandaru Ramarao, Chris Thomas highlighted the center’s efforts to develop efficient bioprocess technologies for the production of biodegradable renewable plastics from waste fibers and fines. Moreover, Chris shared about the Center’s plans to cater to the issues of environmental plastic pollution and plastic recycling through technological innovation for commercial biopolymer applications, which includes coatings for paper products, crown liners for bottle caps, and moldable resins for bottle injection molding.
Dr. Gabby Gausted, from the Center for Glass Innovation (CGI) at Alfred University, highlighted how CGI, amongst others, is working to address opportunities and challenges around glass recycling in NYS through understanding material flows and economic drivers for glass recycling, and quantifying potential collection networks that match sources and sinks for glass.
Dr. David Tonjes, from the Department of Technology and Society at SUNY Stony Brook, underscored his team’s efforts in performing characterization studies of recyclables and waste that analyze how the materials are processed to create more marketable materials.
Dr. Amit Goyal and Dr. Janet Yang, from the NYS Center for Plastics Recycling Research and Innovation at The University at Buffalo, shared about their multidisciplinary research to advance understanding and applications of behavioral science to plastics recycling behaviors, in addition to, developing impactful campaigns to encourage recycling correctly.
Lastly, the Center was proud to share with the conference attendees, a trailer for a video project launching this Spring, that will weave together the story of the critical SMM work our partners are actively doing across the state of New York. As we inch closer towards a more circular and just future, the Center values the ever-evolving partnership with NYSAR3, and looks forward to gathering each year in the name of collaborative sustainable materials management.