Business Mindset

The New Year is proving to be a tough one for the recycling industry, but that doesn’t mean people should adopt the mind-set that no opportunities are available, according to James R. Keefe, group publisher for the Recycling Today Media Group, Richfield, Ohio.

One way professionals from the paper, plastics and electronics recycling industries can continue to seek new opportunities in the face of a market downturn is by attending the Recycling Today June conferences. The events, which include the co-located Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show, Recycling Today’s Plastics Recycling Conference & Trade Show and the Electronics Recycling Conference & Trade Show, are scheduled to take place June 7-9 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta.

This year the events’ planners are offering registration to all three programming tracks—paper, plastics and electronics—for a single price of $475 per person. Previously, attendees paid a base registration fee, adding additional tracks for a nominal fee. Along with workshops and educational sessions, the June conferences also offer attendees various networking opportunities, including breaks between sessions and receptions in the combined exhibit hall, where nearly 70 exhibitors showcase products and services for the recycling industry.

The Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show celebrates its 10^th anniversary in 2009.

"We’re excited about offering our 10^th edition of this conference, which has quickly become a ‘can’t miss’ appointment on the calendars of paper recyclers and mill buyers," Keefe says. "This year, we will be taking steps to honor recyclers, mill buyers and industry suppliers who will have attended all 10 conferences, starting with our inaugural event in 2000, which was also in Atlanta."

From the beginning, the goal of the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show, co-sponsored by the Paper Stock Industries (PSI) Chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), Washington, D.C., has been to provide a forum for attendees to network with industry colleagues, share opportunities and ideas and discuss strategies.

With this goal in mind, the Recycling Today Media Group has once again organized a paper program that features a number of prominent industry speakers participating in various panel discussions covering the current market forces affecting the domestic and global recovered fiber industry.

Slated for Monday afternoon is the session titled "Across the Grades." In this session, moderator Bill Moore of Moore & Associates, Atlanta, and guest speakers, Robert Cook of AbitibiBowater Recycling, Montreal; John Daniel of Federal International Inc., St. Louis; and Erik Deadwyler of Rock-Tenn, Norcross, Ga., discuss the status of domestic and global recovered fiber markets.

Tuesday, June 9, registrants can attend a session titled "Exports: Where Are We Now?" with moderator John D’Ornellas of Western Pacific Pulp & Paper, Downey, Calif., and guest speaker Jonathan Sloan of Canusa Hershman Recycling, Branford, Conn. This panel looks at the twisting and turning that has taken place in export markets for recovered fiber in the last 12 months.

Also on Tuesday is a session titled "Surviving in a World of Giants," which features a panel of independent recyclers and the customers they work with and service. Panelists discuss how they continue to manage their businesses effectively. Guest speakers include Sandy Rosen of GLR Recycling Solutions,
Roseville, Mich.; and Steve Sutta, of The Sutta Co., Oakland, Calif.

In addition to the Paper Recycling Conference, the Recycling Today Media Group also has a number of industry leaders lined up to discuss pressing topics at Recycling Today’s 2009 Plastics Recycling Conference.

Recycling Today’s 2009 Plastics Recycling Conference focuses on several topics that have become critical to plastics recyclers in the past several months, including the status of plastic scrap export markets and an update on where domestic markets stand.

"The past several months have been turbulent for the plastics recycling industry, with issues surrounding end markets being a foremost concern," Keefe says. "Our programming is designed to examine those issues as well as to offer a look at emerging opportunities."

The plastic programming kicks off Monday afternoon with a session titled "Corporate Culture." Many large companies have publicized their sustainability efforts, and this session looks at how these initiatives affect plastics recyclers. Ron Sherga from Sherresults LLC, Arlington, Texas, moderates this session, which features guest speaker Tom Ricciardelli of SelecTech, Avon, Mass., and other speakers affiliated with the construction and automotive sectors.

The other session on Monday is designed to provide updates to North American plastics recyclers who are eager for a boost from export markets. Michelle Cory of Si Quan II, Portland, Ore., and Kathy Xuan of Parc Corp., Romeoville, Ill., are scheduled to speak at this plastics session titled "Returning to the Export Pier." Mark Matza of Fortune Plastic & Metal Inc. moderates.

Tuesday’s programming begins with a session on what manufacturers and recyclers face when trying to create new plastics recycling markets. Guest speakers include John Lively of Preserve Products, Waltham, Mass.; Richard Moody of NextLife, Boca Raton, Fla.; and Betsy Steiner of the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers, Crofton, Md.

Also slated for Tuesday is a session titled "You Can Go Home Again," which features a panel of North American plastic scrap consumers discussing the opportunities and challenges associated with domestic markets. Moderator Cliff Brand of Ekman Recycling, based in Brick, N.J., leads the panel, which includes speakers Kevin Cronin of Nicos Polymers, Nazareth, Pa.; Gerry Fishbeck of United Resource Recovery Corp., Spartanburg, S.C.; and Billy Jeffcoat, KW Plastics, Troy, Ala.

Plastic is not the only secondary commodity facing export market challenges. Responsible exporting is one of the big issues being addressed at this year’s Electronic Recycling Conference.

The third annual Electronics Recycling Conference focuses on several topics of critical interest to companies that collect and process obsolete electronics, including the controversy regarding the export of electronic scrap.

"The event’s programming has been designed to address the issues and opportunities that are confronting electronics recyclers right now and also that are likely to confront them in the near future," Keefe says. The World Refuse, Repair and Recycling Association (WR3A), Middlebury, Vt., reprises its role as a co-sponsor of this event.

Monday, consecutive sessions addressing responsible exporting practices feature panelists from corporations, trade groups and government agencies that have a stake in how electronic scrap is exported.

In the first session titled "Responsible Exporting I: Revisiting the Problem," a panel of electronics recyclers and industry observers reviews the shortcomings and criticisms directed toward electronics scrap exporters as well as the benefits to developing nations when re-marketable equipment is exported properly.

In the second session titled "Responsible Exporting II: The Way Forward," a panel of recyclers and regulators discuss whether a system can be crafted to prevents harmful shipments while allowing refurbished equipment to find its willing buyers. This panel includes Bob Houghton of Redemtech, Hilliard, Ohio.

The Tuesday sessions begin with a panel of speakers discussing mergers and acquisitions occurring in the electronics recycling segment. Panelists include Reggie Chesson of Sims Recycling Solutions, West Chicago, Ill.; Ferris Segovia of Round2 Monitex, Grand Prairie, Texas; and John Shegerian of Electronics Recyclers Inc., Fresno, Calif.

In the last session, titled "Commodity Conundrum," a panel of speakers discuss what price swings in secondary commodities mean for electronic recyclers and suggest potential strategies. Panelists include Mark Matza of Fortune Plastic & Metal Inc. of Dallas and Len Stack of Sipi Metals, Chicago, Ill.

Recycling Today’s conferences continue to provide a venue for professionals in the paper, plastics and electronics recycling industries to network and discuss issues affecting their businesses.

Registration, hotel information and updated programs are available at www.RecyclingTodayEvents.com.