After a trip to Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s 2015 Sustainability Forum, Nina hit the road again to the University of Maryland for the first ever National Sustainable Materials Management Summit.
According to NRC’s website, The event is expected to become a pivotal juncture in moving recycling back to the forefront of national policy. There were 140 participants representing government, businesses, and organizations, engaged in the dialog of the Summit, held at the University of Maryland, College Park on May 12 and 13. This broad and diverse set of stakeholders represented many of the greatest minds in recycling, reuse, waste prevention, product stewardship and other diversion methods that make up aspects of sustainable materials management (SMM). Many exciting and creative concepts emerged, and these will become the basis for the National SMM Action Plan.
Some initial consensus ideas included the need to:
- Make the business and job case for SMM
- Model policies, programs and laws for communities to further SMM
- Matching programs with performance metrics
- Connection of SMM strategies and professionals* with businesses and product designers and local and state policy makers for improved consideration of full life cycle impacts and opportunities
- Incorporation of SMM into climate action plans
- Training and certifications of SMM professionals, recognizing that there are multiple options
- Evaluation and verification of product certifications to provide clear information for consumer choice and provide clear direction for businesses to comply with FTC Green Marketing Guidelines (e.g., strong support for the How2Recycle label)
- Best practices information and resources, including model ordinances and contracts
- Education on downstream impacts on end-user markets and opportunities for investment in markets in the U.S.
Nina presented during the “Business Roles and Market-based Solutions” facilitated dialogue session about the How2Recycle Label program.
Nina Goodrich from @greenblueorg presenting on the How2Recycle program #NRCrecycles #SMMsummit2015 pic.twitter.com/xkvNtWjsZ9
— NRC (@NRCrecycles) May 12, 2015
Stay tuned for information on Nina’s trip to the West Coast next week!
