IRN Receives Grant from Mass DEP

Grant money hopes to boost institutional collection of recyclables in Massachusetts.

The Institution Recycling Network, Concord, N.H., has been awarded a grant by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to help improve recycling opportunities for nursing homes in Massachusetts.

There are nearly 800 nursing homes and related facilities in Massachusetts.  Every one generates a large quantity of recyclable waste, including paper, cardboard, beverage and food containers, plus regulated and hazardous wastes such as fluorescent lights, batteries, televisions, and computer monitors.  All of these materials are banned from disposal in Massachusetts. 

But nursing homes face considerable barriers to recycling, including their small size, which limits access to services and markets for recycled goods, limited budgets, limited custodial staff, and inadequate information on recycling markets, costs, and service options.

The IRN was organized to address these kinds of issues.  The IRN is a cooperative recycling organization that works specifically with health care and educational institutions to achieve waste reduction and recycling goals.  According to Dana Draper, the IRN’s head of operations, “Because we represent volumes from many generators, the IRN is able to negotiate favorable pricing for transportation and marketing of almost any recyclable commodity, typically much better than individual institutions can find on their own.  We can also arrange special kinds of pickup and transportation that make it possible for even small institutions to recycle multiple materials, and do it cost-effectively.  These are among the benefits we hope to demonstrate to the nursing home community.”

Working with over 80 institutions in Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England, the IRN recycles over 40 different commodities, including materials as diverse as computers, fluorescent lamps, batteries, construction wastes, paper, and metals. 

Under the Mass. DEP grant, the IRN will make its cooperative recycling services available to a pilot group of nursing homes in central Massachusetts. The IRN will evaluate current recycling and waste management practices, develop and help implement new procedures to improve recycling performance and reduce costs, and arrange marketing of the recycled materials. The IRN will also be tracking the performance of the participating nursing homes, and developing educational tools that will allow the lessons learned by the pilot group to be used by the much larger community of nursing homes throughout the state.

Julia Wolfe, Commercial Waste Reduction Coordinator for the Massachusetts DEP, said in announcing today's grant, "Nursing homes represent a large community of potential recyclers in Massachusetts, but they've been hindered by small size and lack of information about recycling opportunities. The IRN pools the collective knowledge and strength of institutions like these to reduce waste and increase recycling.  We look forward to using the pilot project to leverage long-lasting results for our nursing home community."