What exactly is Rhode Island Resource Recovery?

So what exactly is RIRRC? Does anyone know?

Yes? No? Possibly?

Okay, here is some background.

Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation is a quasi-public agency. This means that it was created by the state to do the work of the state, for the state, but is not actually run by the state. Resource Recovery is governed by a Board of Commissioners that is made up of nine members- eight members from the public and one appointed by the Governor's office.

Resource Recovery is home to the state's central landfill and the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF), aka the "Murf" . This is where all of you trash and recycling goes when its picked up curbside or from your towns transfer station. The trash goes to the hill to be landfilled and is buried there. The mixed recycling products go to the MRF to be sorted, processed and bailed to be sold to a vendor.

Although these are two main functions of RIRRC, there is so much more that goes on here!

Here at RIRRC, there are lots of programs to try to fit the needs of all Rhode Islanders. This includes:

The Eco- Depot Program where Rhode Island Residents are able to take their household hazardous waste materials for free.

There is the Small Vehicle Area (SVA) where you can bring your recyclables that don't quite belong in your cart or bins. Here is a list of everything that you can bring there!

There is a large composting operation that occurs here from your leaf and yard waste that your city/town collects! Here is the information for how to go about buying some.

There is a huge emphasis on education and outreach at RIRRC. Krystal, the Education and Outreach Manager does a great job running this program. There are a number of educators under her that provide tours of the MRF and the landfill to all ages, as well as providing presentations out in the public. This program also includes all of the information that you could possibly need about mixed recycling. Check out the info here.

As you can imagine, an area of this size with so much grass and open space attracts lots of different species of animals. RIRRC has received the WHC's new Conservation Certification. This is the Wildlife Habitat Council's certification for corporations that encourages biodiversity enhancement and conservation education. To achieve this, Resource Recovery has done a lot in the way of conservation education and onsite projects. Just to name a few:

Building bird boxes and nesting tubes and adding a pollinator garden, as well as teaching animal identification skills so that they can keep track of the animals that are spotted on the property. They also teach the signs for animals that they do not necessarily see but can see their identifiers specific to that species. For more information on the Conservation Certification click here.

For more information about everything and anything RIRRC related, visit their website.

For a step by step guide to Resource Recovery, view this pdf guide!

This is an image capture the entire RIRRC operation.