2011 Annual Report New Mexico Recycling Coalition

2011 Annual Report
New Mexico Recycling Coalition
Leading New Mexico To Value Waste as a Resource

New Mexico Recycling Coalition
The New Mexico Recycling Coalition (NMRC) is a
501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 1991 by a dedicated
set of recyclers wishing to improve recycling in our
state and provide services to the professionals in
the field. The mission of the NMRC is to lead New
Mexico to value waste as a resource. The vision of
the organization is to serve as a public advocate as
well as a professional trade organization. NMRC
wishes to support the New Mexico Environment
Department’s solid waste plan objectives and
includes a focus on communities and regions
in alignment with the hub and spoke approach,
supporting grassroots and community efforts. The
primary goal of NMRC is to lead NM in achieving
33% waste diversion by the end of 2012.
We are pleased to present our second Annual Report
detailing the operations and programs of the
organization.
NMRC Board of Directors 2011
• President: Tim Gray, NM Environment
Department: Solid Waste Bureau
• Vice President, Joel Belding, Enchantment
Electronic Recycling
• Treasurer, Joe Lobato, NM Clean & Beautiful
• Secretary, Lori Crump, Kirtland Air Force
Base
• Past President, O. Paul Gallegos
• Ramon Acevedo-Cruz, Holloman Air Force
Base
• John Acklen, PNM Resources
• David Castillo, Sandia National Laboratories
• Walter Dods, Soilutions (NMORO Seat)
• Charles Fiedler, Gordon Environmental
• Jill Holbert, City of Albuquerque
• Randall Kippenbrock, Santa Fe Solid Waste
Management Agency
• Adrianne Luetjens, Estancia Valley Solid
Waste Authority
• Margie Marley, Sandia National Labs
• Suzanne Michaels, Suzanne Michaels
Communitications
• Tom Nagawiecki, Los Alamos County
• Patti O’Niell, Waste Management
Incoming NMRC Board Members
Newly elected board members for the 2012-2013
term include:
• Mike Smith, Santa Fe Solid Waste
Management Agency
• Bobby Sisneros, City of Albuquerque
• Devin Whittington, Waste Management
• Jill Ybarra
Staff
• English Bird, Executive Director
• Sarah Pierpont, Deputy Director
• Justin Stockdale, Technical Projects Director
• Jessi Just, Community Recycling Outreach
Specialist
Board Service and Information
The NMRC Board is elected by the membership
for a two-year term with the option of running
for three consecutive terms before terming out.
Officers are elected annually by the board. Board
meetings are held six times a year. The board hosts
6 committees: Executive, Policy & Legislation,
Funding, Bylaws, Media and Rural Recycling
Advisory.
NMRC Board of Directors at 2010 Board Retreat
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Recycling in New Mexico
Recycling Program Improvements
The year of 2011 was a banner year for New
Mexico as far as planned investments or new
programs put in place to collect recyclables.
Our second largest city, Las Cruces, approved
and implemented curbside collection. The City
of Albuquerque entered into a public-private
agreement for a new Materials Recovery Facility
(MRF) to be built. This will enable the city to
move to curbside cart collection and ramp up
their collection program in 2012-2013. Waste
Management announced plans to build a MRF in
Albuquerque to process their recycling collections
from the region. The City of Farmington gave
approval for Waste Management to build a
regional recycling processing facility in 2012.
These steps forward are in concert with the many
regional hub and spoke projects that got underway
in 2011 as well. Six new hubs were just about
completed by the end of 2011 serving the following
regions: Torrance County, Otero County, Deming,
Raton, Gallup and Truth or Consequences. Spoke
equipment investments were funded in 2011 to
be made in San Miguel County, Cibola County,
Otero County, Cimarron and Maxwell.
Access to Recycling
In an attempt to capture the improvements to
access to recycling, NMRC has charted the number
of drop-off recycling locations in incorporated and
tribal communities throughout the state. Since
2007, NM has seen an impressive 81% increase
in the number of traditional household drop-off
recycling locations. The number of locations rose
from 102 sites in 2007 to 185 today. Many funding
programs have contributed to this, to include the
NM Environment Department Recycling and
Illegal Dumping Grant program and the federal
stimulus funds coming in via NMED and NMRC.
With access defined as being able to recycle
within 30 miles of a community, we found
that 20 communities do not have any access to
recycling. Out of 156 tracked communities, this
represents 13% of NM communities. Many of
these communities are challenged because of their
distance to travel to a hub processing facility. The
analysis also documents the 14 communities that
offer curbside access. This service is available to
more than 322,000 New Mexicans.
The access to recycling data supports a similar increase
pattern in the state’s recycling rate. In just
5 years the state recycling rate has improved 66%,
increasing from 9.74% in 2006 to its most recent
rate of 16.2% reported for 2010 (New Mexico Environment
Department: Solid Waste Bureau).
Hub and Spoke
The following map depicts where hubs were expanded
during 2011.
Hub & Spoke Map of New Mexico
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Rural Recycling Initiative
Rural Recycling Development Grant
In June 2010, NMRC received a $2.8 million
Department of Energy (DOE) American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant to further
develop the hub & spoke rural recycling concept.
The grant will direct monies to rural, underserved
hub and spoke communities to significantly expand
recycling collection and processing equipment,
and increase recycling access in our state. The grant
is funded through August 8, 2013. More than twothirds
of the grant will be sub-awarded to eligible
sub-recipient communities.
At the end of 2010, NMRC awarded almost $1
million for three new recycling processing hubs
to be placed in Otero County, Torrance County
and Deming. The Torrance facility completed in
November 2011 and the two others are close to
completion. Eleven new drop-off spoke locations
are expected from this investment.
Another round of NMRC spoke grant monies
worth almost $400,000 placed drop-off collection
equipment at 19 new sites in San Miguel County,
Cibola County, Otero County, Maxwell and
Cimarron.
NMED received $500,000 in 2009 from the
state formula distribution of Energy Efficiency
Community Block Grant (EECBG) program,
administered by the New Mexico Energy, Minerals
and Natural Resources Department. This grant
was won competively by NMED. Raton, Gallup
and Truth or Consequences were selected through
another level of grant application and awarded to
receive a horizontal baler, in-floor conveyor system
and recycling collection trailers or roll-offs. Those
locations began work in 2011 and plan to have all
equipment in place by early 2012.
At the end of 2011, the last NMRC sub-awardee
infrastructure hub and spoke development request
for proposals was released.
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Torrance County Recycling Processing Hub
Marketing Cooperative - R3
NMRC’s marketing cooperative reached out to
32 recycling processors in the state to discuss the
benefits of a cooperative and how joint marketing
can provide results for all communities.
The cooperative has yet to market any material,
as its first two members are newly-created hubs
that are either still in development or recently
completed.
The coop looks forward to a succesful launch in
2012, representing and marketing materials on
behalf of our communities around the state.
Rates and Pay-As-You-Throw
Another component of the project will include
Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) and Rate Incentives
outreach to target communities in order to look
at adjusting their solid waste rate structures to
encourage increased diversion.
NMRC has partnered with ICF International to

Rural Recycling Initiative
provide a statewide solid waste rate assessment
that will assist in our rate incentives outreach.
The report was conducted in 2011 with plans for
public release in January 2012.
The June Rural Recycling Training spent half the
day educating communities about what PAYT
is and how it can work for a community. Direct
outreach to targeted and interested communities
came by direct mail, a webinar series as well as
customized presentations.
Collection Container Signage
Technical Assistance
Assistance in 2011 included 82 site visits, 7
NMRC-hosted regional stakeholder meetings
and multitides of other outreach. Besides,
grantees, NMRC was able to provide support
to several existing eligible hub communities
to discuss their needs to expand their current
operations to serve as regional recycling hubs.
Technical assistance in regard to recycling
planning, stakeholder development and outreach
is available to all eligible communities. Please do
not hesitate to contact us for assistance!
Education, Outreach and Training
Another major accomplishment for the project
was to develop standardized signage and
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outreach brochures for eligible communities to
use on their drop-off collection equipment and
sites.
Signage is produced in English and Spanish,
includes photos of acceptable materials, and
follows color coding per material type. The
brochures were customized for 6 communities in
2011, with plans to develop more in 2012.
Ensuring hub and spoke staff understand all the
complexities of their new recycling program,
NMRC has provided safety training on baler
and forklift operation. The first round of dropoff
attendant trainings on material collection was
launched in 2011, with many more planned for
2012.
The June Rural Recycling Training hosted in
Albuquerque brought training to 98 attendees on
the subjects of Pay-As-You-Throw, Reuse Center
Collections, Getting Quality Material, Household
Hazardous Waste Collection Centers and the R3
Cooperative.
National Outreach
Another directive of this project is to ensure it is
replicable to other communities around the nation.
Articles were printed in the following national
trade magazines: Recycling Today, Waste Age and
Resource Recycling. NMRC presented at 3 national
conferences to include SWANA’s, ASTWMO’s
and the Resource Recycling conference.
We have provided direct outreach to state-level
coordinators with guidance and resources on
the hub and spoke model. We’ve spoken with
representatives from Colorado, Nebraska, Alaska,
Tennessee and Wyoming. We participated in a
national Keep America Beautiful rural recycling
webinar and have found our rural resources online
at the Department of Interior’s Greening website.

Program Accomplishments
Certification Course Training
One of NMRC’s core programs is the Recycling
and Composting Facility Operator Certification
Courses. As only a handful of states around the
nation offer this service to their professionals, we
are incredibly proud of the quality and availability
of this program. This program is hosted in
partnership with the New Mexico Environment
Department: Solid Waste Bureau (NMED) in
order to satisfy the New Mexico Solid Waste
Management Act’s requirement that all registered
recycling and composting facilities have certified
staff operating the facility.
2011 NM Recycling Awardees
In non-conference years, NMRC continues to
recognize recycling excellence throughout New
Mexico. Three awards were were presented at the
June NMRC Anniversary Dinner event.
Business Recycler of the Year - Savoy Bar & Grill,
Albuquerque
Community Recycler of the Year - Town of Taos
Recycler of the Year - Patrick Peck
The E. Gifford Stack Lifetime Achievement Award -
Marlene Feuer
The Recycling Certification Course was held in
Ruidoso in May and in Santa Fe in December
with 28 attendees in the earlier class and 35 for the
latter. Class maximum is 35 students.
The Compost Certification Course was held in
Ruidoso in April and in Albuquerque in October,
with 28 students and 35 students respectively.
NMRC’s 20th Anniversary Dinner
NMRC was founded by a dedicated group of
recycling and solid waste volunteers way back
in 1991. To mark the 20th anniversary occasion,
NMRC hosted a celebratory dinner at O’Niells
Pub in Albuquerque.
We were delighted that some of the original
founding members were able to attend and share
their story about those grand early days of the
organization.
Fifty-six attendees helped mark this milestone
with a night full of memories and looking forward
to where NMRC is headed next!
Sponsors included Dex, Waste Management,
South Central Solid Waste Authority, Associated
General Contractors: NM Building Branch and
Enchanment Electronics.
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Outreach
NMRC’s 20th Anniversary Dinner
Media, Public Outreach and Branding
NMRC released 9 press releases in 2011 and was
mentioned in a total of 34 articles. Our name or
logo was included on 26,184 printed outreach
materials and we were included on more than 530
distributed recycling signs. We gave 13 public or
professional presentations.
www.recyclenewmexico.com
This year, more than 20,000 people visited the
NMRC website, up from 16,827 unique visitors the
year previous. They came to the NMRC website to
gain recycling information, register for classes or
trainings or search the NM Recycling Directory.
As a snapshot, NMRC saw 1736 visits in the
month of October, with 1367 unique visitors. The
NM Recycling Directory is the most visited page
on the web site.

Program Accomplishments
NM Recycling Listserve
We currently have 638 listserve members and saw
188 posts in 2011.
Recycling Scraps
Our monthly newsletter remains a resource to
all NMRC members gathering local, state and
national news. It is one of our most popular
membership benefits.
Recycle New Mexico
Traditionally, our November-based education
campaign was called NM Recycling Awareness
Month. But as we all know how important it is to
emphasize education year-round, we renamed the
campaign to Recycle New Mexico.
The new campaign still included November’s
Recycling Awareness Month activities and
working with Keep America Beautiful (KAB)
to register America Recycle Day events on their
website. Registrants recieve technical assistance
on how to host an event, but also great recycledcontent
outreach materials. There were 41
registrants to the national KAB website.
Another element of this program is to provide a
marketing campaign for a partner community.
In concert with the planned launch of 6 new hub
communities, the communities/regions of Torrance
County, Deming, Otero County, Raton, McKinley/
Cibola Counties and Truth or Consequences were
selected.
Planning for the campaign began first of year, with
the last of the deliverables going out the door in
December. Communities received the following
items to assist them in their education and
outreach efforts: banners, under-sink recycling
bins, government office recycling collection bins,
posters and flyers, targeted articles sent to media
partners as well as print advertising.
NMRAM sponsors include Dex, Walmart,
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NMED, NM Clean & Beautiful, Keep NM
Beautiful, Jackson Compaction, PNM Resources,
Livingry Fund, Keep America Beautiful, Jackson
Compaction, Anheuser-Busch, Sierra County
Sentinnel, Deming Headlight, Cibola Beacon,
Raton Range and the Mountain View Telegraph.
The campaign raised more than $26,000 with
approximately $6,000 donated with in-kind media
and other in-kind donations.
NM Organics Recycling Organization
The New Mexico Organics Recycling Organization
(NMORO) hosted two committee meetings to
address issues facing organics recycling facilities,
to encourage more organics diversion and
ensure recources are available to professionals.
The committee met with the NM Department of
Agriculture to discuss implications of the NM
Fertilizer Act and the use of its registration fees
to assist the organics management field. The
NMORO remains available to communities to
assist them in increasing their organics diversion
programs.

Membership and Advocacy
Strength in Numbers
Participation in the NMRC membership has
remained steady in these tough economic times.
We’ve seen growth of the organization with 145
members in 2003, jumping to 206 the following
year and hitting a plateau with our current
membership of 256 members. We saw a 87%
member retention rate in 2011.
NMRC created new member renewal and
disposition policies at the end of 2010, which will
decrease the amount of past due memberships and
hopefully will encourage a quicker dues payment
cycle to ensure NMRC stability.
The NMRC Board has expressed interest in
building a membership campaign for 2012 to
increase its numbers and bring new recycling
professionals into the network!
Member Type 2011 2010 2009
Associate ($30) 29 36 35
Individual ($50) 46 49 50
Exchange ($0) 16 10 8
Non-Profit ($100) 27 22 10
Government ($150) 69 75 80
Business -20 ($150) 36 36 42
Business +20 ($300) 13 15 24
Silver ($500) 6 6 6
Gold ($1,000) 3 1 3
Platinum/Lifetime
($5,000)
11 10 10
TOTAL 256 260 268
New Members in 2011
• Sean Gillespie, GreenPaso Services
• Gordon West, Santa Clara Woodworks
• Brian Gutierrez, Mr. G’s Recycling
• Joe McFarlin, EnviroEd, Inc
• David Thomas, Rocking V Waterservices
New Members in 2011 (Continued)
• Jo Fanelli, Atlas Pumping Co., Inc.
• Daniel Roemer, HaulRite of Four Corners, Inc
• Betsy Windisch, McKinley Citizens Recycling
Committee
• Tara Chisum, Angel Fire Sustainability
Committee
• David Wentling, GrowRaton!
• Connie Grove, Deming Public Schools
• Michael Carpenter, Placitas Recycling Assoc.
• Brian Gibson, Action Container Solutions
• Sandy Blalock, NM Certified Automotive
Recyclers Assoc &
• Sandy Blalock, NM Metal Recyclers Assoc.
• Jill Ybarra;
• Chris Sawyer & Mark Anderson, Philmont
Scout Ranch
• Devin Whittington, Waste Management
• Lisa Merrill, Santa Fe Solid Waste Mngm’t
Agency
• Drew Tulchin, Social Enterprise Assoc.
• Daniele Berardelli, Rhino Environmental
Services, Inc.
• Sarah Seigfreid & Mark Hiles, Peabody
Energy
• E. Byers, New Mexico Disposal Co., LLC
• Levi Lementino, Zuni Pueblo
Recycling Advocacy/Lobbying
NMRC plays a part in the state-level Legislative
process. Although we have not worked to bring in
a particular piece of legislation for several years,
we pay attention to bills that would have an affect
on our members’ and industry’s interest.
In 2011, a bill was passed that updated the
Recycled-Content Purchasing Preference that we
worked on with the bill’s sponsor. There is now a
definition that products must contain a minimum
of 25% recycled content and the purchasing
preference is a flat 5%.
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Finances
Annual Income and Expense
Income
Earned Revenues
Conference $500.00
Interest $153.19
Other Services $9,281.37
Certification Class Fees $14,925.00
Grant Income $967,709.41
Membership Dues $25,875.00
Corporate Contributions $11,556.80
Total Income $1,030,000.77
Expense
ARRA Sub-Recipients
Contractual $599,191.56
Supplies $13,210.37
Business Expenses $500.01
Advertising Expenses $80.72
Board Retreat & Expenses $2006.17
Directors & Officers Insurance $1,055.00
Gifts & Awards Given $1418.39
Staff Professional Development $390.00
Workers Comp/Genl Liability Ins. $7,327.70
Non-Personnel Expenses
Outreach Supplies $11,443.60
Conference Attendance $765.00
Dues and Subscriptions $1,221.93
Misc. Expenses $22.43
Office Equipment $1,818.72
Office & Conference Supplies $3,691.67
Postage, Delivery, Mailhouse $1,554.47
Printing & Publications $6,420.43
Telecommunications $4,160.58
Training Refreshments $188.01
Total Payroll Expenses $264,403.95
Professional Fees
Accounting $2,089.64
Consultants $72,084.08
Graphic Design $1,405.51
Legal $9,426.74
Web Design $259.65
Course Materials $2,020.70
Travel & Meeting Expenses $21,343.34
Total Expense $1,029,500.37
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The New Mexico Recycling Coalition strives to
operate under a balanced annual budget, focusing
on core operating expenses to maintain the
organization and then creating seperate budgets
for Special Projects such as Recycle New Mexico,
grant projects, the conference, etc. Income from
previous year’s special project fundraising events,
such as the conference, is spread across the next
two budget years.
The board establishes an annual goal to set aside
a pre-determined amount of funds available
for a rainy day fund. NMRC currently owns a
Certificate of Deposit in the amount of $11,500,
has a reserve account of $10,136 and maintains an
average checking balance of $45,000.
Throughout this report, we have identified
granting agencies, foundations and sponsors
according to the appropriate programs they
supported. NMRC would like to express special
appreciation to the Crawford Family Foundation
for their general support as it has allowed us to
grow as an organization over the past several
years!
New Collection Equipment at Deming Hub

New Mexico Recycling Coalition
PO Box 24364
Santa Fe, NM 87502
505-983-4470
info@recyclenewmexico.com
www.recyclenewmexico.com
Please print on recycled paper!