Recycling Reinvented Hires Outreach Director

Recycling Reinvented, a Shoreview, Minn.-based nonprofit that says it is committed to advancing recycling of packaging and printed paper though an extended producer responsibility (EPR) model, has named Melissa Innes, a retiring Maine state representative, as its outreach director.

In naming Innes its outreach director, Recycling Reinvented says its goal is to create an efficient recycling model, which can better meet the needs of the American marketplace by increasing recycling rates, reducing government spending and using private sector efficiencies to reduce the overall cost of recycling.

Recycling Reinvented works with brand owners, packaging manufacturers, processors, material recovery facilities, haulers, labor and local and state governments.

"As the author of successful EPR legislation in Maine with a proven ability to bridge the needs of business and the public, Melissa Innes is a great addition to our team," says Paul Gardner, executive director at Recycling Reinvented. "I look forward to working with her to continue building the movement to support EPR for packaging in the U.S."

Innes has served on Maine’s Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, promoting the sustainable management of materials.

"Our current recycling system is not keeping up pace with supply and demand. With EPR, many nations have achieved recycling rates that double those in the United States," says Innes, "They have accomplished this when government sets a goal and gives the private sector flexibility to meet it. There is incredible opportunity for U.S. manufacturers to adopt a similar approach, and even go beyond increasing recycling rates."