Common Ground

CONTINUED SUCCESS. Last year, the 2005 Paper Recycling Conference in Atlanta attracted more than 500 industry professionals from around the world.

The 2006 Paper Recycling Conference will include all of the elements that have made it a successful event in the past six years: educational programming on current industry issues, the latest equipment and service offerings in the exhibit hall and numerous networking opportunities.

The educational programming will cover a wide spectrum of pertinent industry topics. The conference’s organizers strive to develop programming that reflects the interests of attendees from all facets of the paper industry, including paper stock dealers, consumers, mill representatives, recyclers and equipment and service providers.

Sessions are available that address global issues, such as "Dialing Long Distance: The Export Picture," examining worldwide market trends affecting the flow of secondary fiber around the globe.

With energy costs on the rise and the price of diesel fuel soaring, anyone trying to move material is well aware of the transportation issues facing the paper industry. Reflecting the current market environment, an entire session will be devoted to these issues. Among the panelists will be Scott Horne, general counsel for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), who will address attendees on the California Pier Pass program.

Sessions on material quality and supply lines are also scheduled, in addition to a roundtable discussion where a moderator and audience members will have the chance to pose questions to a panel of mill buyers.

In addition to the regular programming, conference-goers also will have the opportunity to attend two pre-conference workshops. The first will address plant safety. The second, a two-hour workshop presented by Bill Moore and Peter Engle of Moore & Associates, Atlanta, will focus on pricing. The pricing workshop requires a separate registration fee.

As it builds on a six-year tradition of strong programming and abundant networking opportunities, the newest element to the 2006 Paper Recycling Conference is the addition of a brand new, co-located conference: Recycling Today’s Plastics Recycling Conference & Trade Show.

PAPER OR PLASTIC? Reflecting the growth of the plastics recycling market, the Recycling Today Media Group has introduced Recycling Today’s Plastics Recycling Conference & Trade Show, which offers the same networking, session and exhibit opportunities as the paper conference, only geared to the specific needs and interests of the secondary plastics industry.

The show is a must-stop for plastic brokers, traders and scrap collectors, in addition to plastics reclaimers and secondary consumers. Like the paper conference, the show will feature top industry representatives and timely programming.

Running concurrently with the paper programming are six education sessions devoted specifically to plastics. The sessions will focus on a variety of issues of primary interest to processors and consumers of secondary plastics.

The keynote session will address the global plastics market, featuring a panel of industry executives discussing the global forces at work on the plastics market and how those forces will shape the industry’s future.

A session on electronics recycling pulls together a panel that includes Dan Barrett from the U.S. Postal Service and Mark Matza of Fortune Metals for an in-depth discussion of market trends and how the European Union’s WEEE and RoHS directives are helping to accelerate recycling efforts in this area.

A panel of reprocessors will share tips for working with industrial accounts to procure material and discuss methods for successfully handling and marketing recycled resins in a session entitled "The Industrial Revolution in Resins."

Lisa White with SP Newsprint, and Mike Benedetto of Tidewater Fiber will be part of a panel discussion on plastics sorting methods.

Educational programming on municipal efforts to increase recycling rates for HDPE and PET and on quality issues affecting consuming markets is also scheduled.

Attendees have the option of registering to attend tracks from both conferences for an additional $55 fee.

In addition, attendees of either event will have access to the 11,000-squre-foot joint exhibit hall where equipment manufacturers and service providers for both the paper and plastics recycling industries will be on hand to display their latest offerings.

Last year, the paper conference drew a sold-out exhibit hall of 50 exhibitors. The show’s organizers say they expect a larger turnout for 2006.

IN DEMAND. "The demand for an event devoted to plastics recycling has never been greater," says Jim Keefe, Recycling Today Media Group publisher. "With energy costs at an unprecedented high, an increasing number of organizations are looking to secondary plastics as a significant cost-saving opportunity," he adds.