Wishing you all the best in 2023! We hope you enjoyed the recent holidays.

NEWMOA's New Executive Director

The NEWMOA Board of Directors recently announced that, after an extensive and rigorous search process, the Board has chosen Martin Suuberg to be NEWMOA’s new Executive Director. In Martin, we have a new leader who, in addition to possessing extensive knowledge about state waste, cleanup, and toxics issues, is also intimately familiar with our organization, the work we do, and the community that we serve. Martin has extensive experience in environmental law and regulation, having worked in a number of posts in the federal and state governments over several decades. For the last eight years, Martin served as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department Environmental Protection at a time when the Agency developed and implemented drinking water and contaminated site clean-up standards for PFAS and enhanced efforts to address Environmental Justice and equity issues. He made it a priority to improve outreach to cities, towns, and all stakeholders – even with the challenges posed by COVID over the past several years. 

Martin’s passion for environmental protection and public health, his vision for the organization, and his commitment to reducing emerging contaminants, promoting environmental justice, and taking aggressive climate action made a deep impression on the Board.

According to Martin, "NEWMOA is an important regional forum for discussing and developing solutions to environmental issues. I am eager to join the NEWMOA team and build on the important work it is doing with the states and their partners." 

Martin will begin in his new role on January 23, 2023 and until that time will be working with Terri Goldberg to ensure a smooth transition.



Michael Wimsatt, NH DES, NEWMOA Search Committee Chair, Board of Directors

NEWMOA's New Staff Person

NEWMOA welcomed Stephanie Frisch in December as the newest member of the staff. Stephanie joined NEWMOA late in 2022 and supports efforts to upgrade NEWMOA’s website and a variety of solid waste initiatives, including projects on PFAS in consumer products, anaerobic digestion, improving the management of closed landfills, and food waste reduction in hospital cafeterias. Stephanie graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in Environmental Science, Biology and Conservation Biology and was inducted into The Phi Beta Kappa Society. Prior to joining NEWMOA, Stephanie worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant surveying Apostle Island black bear population health and as an Antibiotic Discovery Student Researcher working to address the global health threat of antibiotic resistance. She also contributed to the City of Madison’s Sustainability Plan review and presented suggestions to the Madison City Sustainability Program Coordinator. Stephanie enjoys baking, traveling, and spending time outdoors hiking, snowboarding, and rock climbing.

Upcoming NEWMOA-NERC SMM Webinars

Gypsum Wallboard: Problems, Recommendations, & the Current State of Recycling

January 9, 2023, 1:00 – 3:00

This webinar will include the following presentations:

“The Problems Created by Gypsum Wallboard Waste for Landfills & C&D Processors”

 Presenter: Rick Watson, Delaware Solid Waste Authority

“The Problems Created by Gypsum Wallboard Waste for Waste-to-Energy Facilities”

Presenter: Mark VanWeelden, Covanta

“Recycling Gypsum Wallboard in the Northeast”

Presenter: Terry Weaver, USA Gypsum

“Gypsum Wallboard Recycling in the Northwest, Canada, & Europe”

Presenter: Michael McCamley, New West Gypsum Recycling

Register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1799381992148594190

Gypsum Wallboard: Opportunities to Increase Recycling

January 24, 2023, 1:30 – 3:00

This webinar will include the following presentations:

“A Contractor’s Perspective on Gypsum Wallboard Waste”

Presenter: Michael Orbank, Structure Tone

“Emerging Research on Products Made from Gypsum Wallboard Waste”

Presenters: David Drake & Taiji Miyasaka, Washington State University

“Gypsum Wallboard Manufacturer’s Perspective”

Presenters: Steve Meima & Susan Hines, Gypsum Association

Register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3758454427124722191

Recent Joint NEWMOA-NERC Webinars

Ground Glass Pozzolans – A More Sustainable Solution for Recycled Glass & Concrete

Using ground glass Pozzolans instead of cement in concrete is a viable and sustainable solution. This webinar focused on this nascent industry sector that uses locally-sourced, post-consumer glass to make an environmentally preferable building material. The presenters were:

•      Pat Grasso, Co-Managing Partner, Urban Mining Industries, LLC

•      Kimberly Bawden, Program Manager at the Green Technology Accelerator Center (GTAC) & Senior Staff Engineer at the NYS P2 Institute at RIT

•      TJ Oneglia, Vice President & Operations Manager of O&G Industries Inc.

Recording and slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Qle3mBiLk and the slides - https://nerc.org/conferences-and-workshops/webinars

Strategies for Residential Food Waste Reduction & Composting

This webinar provided an opportunity to learn about resources on preventing food waste at home, particularly in disadvantaged communities. This is a key strategy for keeping food out of the waste stream. The presentations covered opportunities to reduce and divert food waste to compost, especially smaller scale community composting. The presenters were:

•      Krishana Abraham-Petrie, NEWMOA

•      Lisa Piering, OCCRA

•      Brenda Platt, ILSR

Recording and slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy0QNvlREwg and the slides - https://nerc.org/conferences-and-workshops/webinars



Every year, NERC solicits nominations for their Annual Awards that recognize outstanding achievements in and contributions towards recycling, reuse, and waste reduction in the region. Among the award winners this year was Terri Goldberg, NEWMOA’s Executive Director who was honored with a lifetime achievement award. 

Terri Goldberg, NEWMOA & Megan Fontes, NERC

NEWMOA's Board of Directors met virtually in December to interview candidates for NEWMOA's Executive Director position and discuss NEWMOA's FY 2023 finances and other business topics.

NEWMOA’s FY 2023 Officers:

• Greg Cooper, Mass DEP, Chair
• Susanne Miller, ME DEP, Vice Chair
• Bill Ottaway, NYSDEC, Treasurer

Additional FY 2023 Board members:

• Jennifer Perry, CT DEEP
• James Albis, CT DEEP
• Graham Stevens, CT DEEP
• Diane Baxter, Mass DEP
• Tiffany Skogstrom, Mass OTA
•  Mike Wimsatt, NH DES
• Kathy Black, NH DES
• Mike Hastry, NJ DEP
• Janine MacGregor, NJ DEP
• John Vana, NYSDEC
• Ron Gagnon, RI DEM
• Leo Hellested, RI DEM
• Matt Chapman, VT DEC

FY 2023 Program Chairs:

• Tom Killeen, NYSDEC - Hazardous Waste
• Saskia van Bergen, WA Ecology - Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse (IC2)
• Tom Metzner, CT DEEP - Interstate Mercury Education & Reduction Clearinghouse (IMERC)
• Kathy Black, NH DES - Pollution Prevention & Sustainability
• Chris Nelson, CT DEEP - Solid Waste & Sustainable Materials Management
• John Gilkeson, MN PCA - Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse
• TBD - Waste Site Cleanup

news@NEWMOA is designed to help our members and colleagues keep informed about the Association's projects and activities. You are receiving this e-newsletter because you are a member of a NEWMOA working group, committee, or program; invitee to NEWMOA events; a colleague at EPA or a related organization; connected to the Association in some other way; or have expressed interest in our work. news@NEWMOA contributors include Krishana Abrahim-Petrie, Andy Bray, Terri Goldberg, Jennifer Griffith, Lois Makina, Melissa Lavoie, and Stephanie Frisch.

If you have questions about the delivery of this e-newsletter, contact Lois Makina, lmakina@newmoa.org.

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www.newmoa.org

Leading the Northeast to a sustainable, waste-free future

NEWMOA is a non-profit, non-partisan, interstate association whose membership is composed of the state environment agency programs that address pollution prevention, toxics use reduction, sustainability, materials management, hazardous waste, solid waste, emergency response, waste site cleanup, underground storage tanks, and related environmental challenges in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. NEWMOA also works collaboratively with non-member states on issues and programs of national importance.  

NEWMOA provides a strategic forum for effectively identifying, developing, and implementing solutions to environmental problems through collaborative initiatives that advance pollution prevention and sustainability, promote safer alternatives to toxic materials in products, identify and assess emerging contaminants, facilitate adaption to climate change, mitigate greenhouse gas sources, promote reuse and recycling of wastes and diversion of organics; support proper management of hazardous and solid wastes, and facilitate clean-up of contaminant releases to the environment.

NEWMOA is an equal opportunity employer and provider.