As most of you know, Rick Moore is NAPCOR's new executive director; he's been working with Dennis and the leadership team for several months, and officially assumed the director role on January 1. Rick's roots are in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area, and a Kentucky suburb is now NAPCOR Central.

As part of this transition, NAPCOR and Moore Recycling Associates are changing the way in which they work together. Moore Recycling will continue to play an integral role in the NAPCOR organization but will be moving away from the day-to-day operations. In the short term, Moore Recycling will assist with the transfer of management responsibilities. Going forward, Moore Recycling will act as a contracting consultant to NAPCOR, undertaking specific project work pertaining to ongoing data collection and reports.

So, starting February 14, NAPCOR has a new office address and main phone number:

7310 Turfway Road, Suite 550 

Florence, KY 41042

859/372-6635 (office)

859/380-6505 (Rick's cell)

Also on that date, Kate and David will begin using their Moore Recycling Associates email addresses and phone number for NAPCOR communications: kate@moorerecycling.com, david.odonnell@moorerecycling.com, and 707/935-3390.

Questions about these changes, and communications related to NAPCOR administration and operations, should be directed to Rick using the contact information above or his NAPCOR email address, rmoore@napcor.com.

In December, the Southeast Recycling Development Council convened a Paper and Packaging Symposium to discuss strategies for increasing recovery in the Southeast US, and how stakeholders can get together, on a voluntary basis, to implement them. NAPCOR's Rick Moore and Resa Dimino participated, as did several NAPCOR members. The symposium launched the SERDC 120 process to engage industry in voluntary public/private partnerships to make strategic, one-time, leveraged investments in municipal recycling programs to sustain higher levels of recovery through the use of proven best practices. Public- and private-sector stakeholders, including NAPCOR, will work for 120 days (from January through April) to develop a list of proposed recovery projects and raise the funds to implement them.

In January, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) issued a draft of its Recycling Refund System Cost-Benefit Analysis for public comment. The analysis provides a deeper look at the potential impact of the agency's Draft Program Design, which defines an innovative beverage container deposit program. The state legislature has only a brief session this year, but legislation arising from the program design and analysis will likely be introduced in 2015.

Again this year, Maryland legislators will debate a beverage container deposit proposal. The bill is similar to last year's, which took a non-traditional approach and envisioned counties playing a role in implementation.

Recycling Reinvented has issued the second in a series of three working papers evaluating the costs and benefits of Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging and Printed Paper. This paper focuses on the costs to implement EPR for packaging in Minnesota and projects the potential savings and increases in recycling rates. The final paper, expected this month, will break down costs by material to give a better sense of the costs to be borne by individual producers.

Advocates in Indiana are lining up behind a new bill that would establish a recycling goal for the state -- 50 percent by 2019 -- and require recyclers to report to the state on how much material they handle. The bill also requires the Environmental Quality Service Council, a multi-stakeholder group chaired by a key legislator, to report to the legislature by November of this year on policy options that would increase recycling in the state, as well as a number of other topics related to solid waste management in Indiana. The bill cleared the House unanimously on January 29 and is expected to move swiftly through the Senate and on to the governor's desk.

As mentioned at the November NAPCOR meetings, the unredeemed deposit fund in California's CRV system is unsustainable; it is paying out approximately $100 million more each year than it takes in. Fund outlays are set in state law, so changes aimed at ensuring fund solvency require legislation. CalRecycle has recommended some changes that are included in the governor's initial budget submission for the upcoming fiscal year. Of particular note to PET, the proposals include a three-year phaseout of the processing fee offsets for glass and plastic containers. The offsets reduce the processing fees paid by manufacturers and distributors as the recycling rate for their material rises. Currently, the recycling rate for PET containers is high and processing fees are low; phasing out the offsets amounts to a disincentive, an effect that seems contrary to the intent of the law. It is early days for the budget process and all will be discussed in state legislative budget committees over the next several months. The Plastic Recycling Corporation of California (PRCC) will stay engaged in the discussions and will keep NAPCOR up to date.

The Plastic Market Development payments, made to California converters using CRV material reclaimed in California and to the reclaimers who supply it, are not currently slated for reduction. However, in recent years the $10 million available annually has been divided among many eligible companies and depleted relatively quickly (in 2013, it was gone by the end of the first quarter). CalRecycle is considering changes to the administration of the fund. As of this writing, the plan is to make $2.5 million available per quarter, to be split among the eligible parties. Who those parties might be has been the subject of heated debate; the state is leaning heavily toward taking reclaimers out of the picture and limiting eligibility to California product manufacturers using CRV material. No changes have been formalized yet, but CalRecyle tells us an announcement is imminent.