National Recycling Coalition · Since 1978
Every material has a next life.
Getting it there takes a system. A system takes people.
Inside the recovery system
Sorted by people who know the work.
Haulers, sorters, educators, state organizations, policymakers. Every material moves because someone moves it.
The State Recycling Organization network
Local expertise.National reach.
NRC connects State Recycling Organizations and practitioners so what works in one state can travel to the next.
The national network for recycling leaders
Better recycling. Stronger together.
Connect the people, knowledge and action that keep materials in use. Help NRC turn local expertise into national progress.
Illustrative AI-generated facility
Skip the film ↓- 01 · RecoveryEvery material has a next life.Getting it there takes a system. A system takes people.
- 02 · SortedSorted by people who know the work.Haulers, sorters, educators, state organizations, policymakers.
- 03 · ConnectedLocal expertise. National reach.NRC connects State Recycling Organizations and practitioners across the country.
Where NRC creates value
From field challenges to national opportunities.
NRC focuses on the places where connection can speed up better recycling and sustainable materials management.
Policy + Advocacy
Bring practitioner experience into policy conversations and public comment.
↗02State Networks
Help SRO leaders share models, intelligence, capacity and lessons learned.
↗03Knowledge + Tools
Put reports, webinars, policy resources and field-tested guidance in reach.
↗04Convening
Create the rooms where people doing the work can solve problems together.
↗05Campus + Workforce
Connect higher education, research and emerging professionals to the field.
↗06Coalition Building
Strengthen the relationships that make a distributed recycling field more effective.
↗Start where you are
What are you here to move forward?
NRC is a network, not a one-size-fits-all program. Choose your perspective and we will point you to the most useful places to start.
Local programs
Bring proven ideas home.
Connect with peers, practical resources and national conversations that can strengthen community recycling and materials-management work.
State + regional leaders
Turn a state network into national weight.
Share what works with other SRO leaders, compare models, build capacity and bring state-level implementation experience into national conversations.
Higher education
Connect campus innovation to the field.
Bring students, researchers and sustainability professionals into the national materials-management community through NRC Campus Council.
Business + industry
Get closer to the people running the system.
Connect with public programs, SROs, nonprofits, educators and other practitioners working across recycling and circularity.
Policy + public affairs
Ground policy in how it really works.
Explore NRC policy positions and connect with the practitioners who understand how materials policy operates on the ground.
Meet. Learn. Move forward.
Two convenings.
More ways to connect.
Bring your questions, experience and ideas to NRC's national conversations.
Campus Council Virtual Summit
November 2026 · Full schedule coming soon
Connect the people learning it, teaching it, operating it and hiring for it. General admission $45, students $25.
Explore the Summit → In person · St. LouisCircularity Forum 2026
Monday, September 28, 2026
Practical circularity, policy, reuse and local programs, with the people doing the work.
See the Forum →NRC50 · 1978 to 2028
Fifty years of turning waste into resource.
NRC helped build the movement, markets, professional networks, policies and people that moved recycling from scattered local experiments to a national profession. NRC50 is preserving that history.
The Conditions for a Movement
A National Coalition Is Born
Building the Recycling System
Disruption, Reorganization and Renewal
Circularity and the Next Generation
The coalition in action
People doing the work.
Practitioners learning, debating, touring, teaching and building better systems together. See the coalition at work, then find your place in it.
Explore. Experiment. Connect.
Think beyond the bin. See the whole system.
Every material has a next chapter. In NRC Loop Lab you decide what it becomes. Try eight quick decisions, or build your way through a full circularity journey.
Turn belief into support
Good ideas need people. Progress needs you.
Every gift and every membership keeps education, outreach and national connection moving. Press and hold to close the loop.
Press and hold this button, or hold the space bar, to complete the loop. The donate and join links below always work.
Donations are completed on NRC's secure donation form.