July 2023 Newsletter

Special Thanks to Our 2023 Sponsors!

Join Us in July to Lunch, Learn & Network!

Join us at the Queen City’s center for circular innovation on July 20 from 10am-2pm for a lunch, learn, and networking experience, including a tour of the Innovation Barn. The Innovation Barn - an urban living lab – is a user-centered, open innovation ecosystem where new solutions are found to real-life issues. It includes space for innovations using resources from Charlotte’s waste stream and for entrepreneurs to explore the circular economy, developing products/companies and jobs.

Where:

The Innovation Barn | 932 Seigle Avenue | Charlotte, NC 28205

When:

July 20, 2023 | 10am-2pm

New Carolina Recycling Podcast Episode!

CRA Goes to The Innovation Barn

Check our our interview with the Innovation Barn's Executive Director of Envision Charlotte, Amy Aussiker. Listen here!

NC Coast Receives Food Waste Grant

NC DEQ Helps Coastal Towns Reduce Food Waste

A new North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality grant program to help reduce food waste in landfills has awarded its first round of funding to nearly a dozen projects, two of which are on the coast. Wilmington Compost Company and Crystal Coast Compost in Hubert, NC in Onslow County, are among the 11 projects awarded a total of $393,264 through the Food Waste Reduction Grant. Collectively, grants are projected to divert 20,292 tons of food waste from landfills, officials said Thursday.

“The Food Waste Reduction grants are a key way to grow our state’s capacity to address the largest segment of our waste stream,” DEQ Secretary Elizabeth S. Biser said in a statement. “These investments fund sustainable projects that reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfills, which saves valuable landfill space, improves our soils and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.”

Read more from Furman

Highlights from the BMW Sustainability Village

Check Out the 2023 BMW ProAm Fun

The BMW ProAm event was held this month at the Thornblade Club in Greer, SC and The Carolina Country Club in Spartanburg. This celebrity packed event is held every year in South Carolina and was created in order to showcase the beauty of Upstate South Carolina and hospitality of its citizens to the world; to create an event that brings the upstate a fun and entertaining week centered around professional athletes and world-renowned celebrities; and raise money and awareness for South Carolina charities. Since 2001, the tournament has distributed more than $15-million to numerous Upstate SC non-profit organizations, part of the PGA TOUR’s $3 billion plus raised for charity. This amazing celebration of South Carolina also features the BMW Sustainability Village that offers interactive sustainability programming and educational opportunities.

CRA is happy to report that multiple board members were active on the scene! Wes Westbrooks, Senior Waste Logistics Specialist for BMW, took the stage to speak during a panel on sustainable efforts that are in the works through BMW. CRA Vice President Dave VanDeventer held the fort down for us in the Sustainability Village at the BMW ProAm this past month and he even had a chance to catch up with CRA Board Member and Senior Director of Sustainability of Coca-Cola Consolidated, Todd Marty. Check out their chat here!

Take One Down, Pass It Around (to the Recycling Bin)

NC Students See the Rewards of Recycling

Haywood Early College students are teaming up with Junaluska Elementary School's fifth graders and Haywood County Recycling. Their goal is to educate the upcoming middle schoolers on recycling and sustainability and to also keep a whooping 90,000 juice and milk cartons out of the county landfill each year. One Haywood Early College student even dressed up as a "bag monster" made from plastic shopping bags to illustrate how many bags the average U.S. family uses each year. The older students then worked with Junaluska students to design recycling art to advertise the new program within their school. In this incredible act of educational reward, environmental science student and junior at Haywood Early College, Hailey Hartshorn, added: “We all learned how to step up as science communication leaders to make a meaningful difference.”

Hawwood County Recyclng is providing the recycling containers that will help divert these jugs and cartons from the landfill. This initiative will hopefully be one that is passed through to surrounding counties and continue to expand. Way to go Haywood Early College and Junaluska Elementary School!

Read more at Waste360

Job Openings at NC State University

Check Out These Open Positions Below

NC State University currently has two important Waste Reduction and Recycling positions open. Check them out, apply, or share with a colleague or friend who may be interested!

Outreach and Engagement Coordinator

The Outreach and Engagement Coordinator plays a pivotal role in helping the university reach its diversion goals by engaging the campus community to spread awareness and understanding of WRR’s programs and services and to create behavior change. Ideal candidate will have a passion for waste reduction, recycling and composting; a background in designing and implementing outreach and engagement campaigns and initiatives; experience with managing programs and/or events; and enjoys finding creative ways to engage diverse audiences through innovative programming and messaging. Click here to read more about this position.

Operations Manager

The primary role of the position is to coordinate and oversee two critical functions of WRR: the automated collection of campus waste, recycling and compost (Front End Load/FEL Team) and heavy equipment operation (Equipment Services/ES Team) utilizing a team of ten skilled, CDL-licensed drivers and heavy equipment operators. ES staff serves as rotating on-call operators to provide 24-hour, 365 day a year coverage for campus emergencies requiring equipment support. Click here to read more about this position.

If you would like to share a professional or managerial job opening to be featured in our newsletter, please send your information and description of the job openings to staff@cra-recycle.org

CRA Committees & Councils Need You

Don't Forget to Sign Up Using Our Online Interest Form

CRA has 7 committees and 5 councils that need your voice and help. Bonus, you get to make new friends, add some muscle to your resume, and be part of the magic. What are you waiting for?

Membership Renewal Time is Here!

BOLO for your Renewal Email

Be On the Look Out (BOLO) for your membership renewal in an email inbox near you! Your membership is vital to the Carolina Recycling Association and to the success of the recycling community as a whole. Be sure to renew your membership on time to take advantage of all of our great member benefits. Your benefits include: Discounts on CRA conference registration, annual professional headshot updates at the Conference, eligibility to run for our board of directors, the right to vote in annual elections and membership meetings, discounts for other events, full access to CRA’s membership directory, priority registration, members-only special activities, and more!

Have questions? Go to our membership information page today or contact us at staff@cra-recycle.org!