During our well-attended Regional Recycling Market Development (RRMD) workshop held at the Albuquerque Museum this past week, the term “collaboration” kept coming to my mind when thinking about this workshop series and all other NRC programs. The Albuquerque workshop is a prime example of how the NRC collaborates with its affiliated recycling organizations. In this case, we cohosted the event with the New Mexico Recycling Coalition, our state affiliate. Past RRMD workshops were cohosted with our affiliates in Oregon, Georgia and Illinois. Stakeholders from numerous surrounding states attended each of the previous workshops. With attendees from Arizona, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico and with several tribes represented, the Albuquerque workshop could also evolve into further regional collaboration. The need for regional cooperation has been a constant theme throughout all of the market development workshops.
As the workshops have evolved, the sphere of collaboration has expanded to include two of the preeminent consulting firms in the market development arena. Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) has provided their market development expertise and technological capabilities since the Portland workshop which has really enhanced the informational content of the subsequent workshops. The principals of Circular Matters, LLC, all formerly of RSE, have joined the collaboration by providing their vast knowledge of national, regional, and state market development programs throughout the country.
The NRC is working to further enhance the workshop collaboration with the “soon to be debuted” development of online recycling market development resources on the NRC website and the upcoming announcement of a new nationwide partnership for future workshops. If you are a NRC direct or affiliate member, you and your company can join the collaboration on the RRMD workshops and other NRC programs. Please contact me ([email protected] ) or Sarah DeSouza ([email protected] ) if you are interested in collaborating on the NRC RRMD workshops or sponsoring the workshops or other future NRC programs!
