The Shifting Landscape of Recycling

Up until recently, most recycling markets have traditionally been in Asia. Increasingly and accelerating, over the past year those markets have closed and recyclers are having to find new markets. In this meeting, recycling expert, Lynn Rubinstein, told us why the landscape is shifting, what that means in terms of recycling costs, what is being recycled, and the ability to meet recycling and sustainability goals. Also, we learned more about Connecticut’s program to improve the quality of material collected for recycling, which should (hopefully) lead to better recycling and access to recycling markets.

About the Presenter

Lynn Rubinstein has been the Executive Director of the Northeast Recycling Council for 18 years. Prior to being with NERC, she was the Solid Waste Manager for the City of Northampton, MA, the Conservation Director for the City of Holyoke, MA, the Mercury and Electronics Recycling Program Director at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a professor of land use management, a resource planner, and an attorney with the Department of Justice.

She has been actively engaged in electronics recycling issues for more than 20 years, including founding and managing the State Electronics Challenge and co-founding the Electronics Recycling Coordination Clearinghouse. She is a founding and continuing Board member of Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI) which is responsible for the R2 electronics recycling standard.

Ms. Rubinstein has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Earth Sciences from Wesleyan University and a Juris Doctor from Southwestern University School of Law.