Editor's Focus -- A Time to Talk

Meetings and conventions are fraught with hassles and, for some, are difficult to justify. Some futurists have occasionally predicted the decline of nationwide face-to-face gatherings as video-conferencing technology advances.

Although technology provides ways to restructure some face-to-face meetings, and despite the heightened airport security that can add precious time to business trips, organizers of this year’s recycling conventions will probably have plenty of attendee and exhibitor applications to process.

Two recycling meetings that took place earlier this year have reported attendance that grew from the previous year, with more than 200 people attending the C&D World Expo and CMRA (Construction Materials Recycling Association) Annual Meeting in January in New Orleans, and some 900 attendees registered for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) Mid-American Chapter Consumer Night in St. Louis in February.

For recyclers, spring is a peak convention season, with ISRI’s Annual Convention in Las Vegas (see "Double Down," starting on page 72), the National Association of Demolition Contractors convention, AF&PA’s Paper Week, WasteExpo and the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show offering critical opportunities for recyclers to make connections in person.

Attendees of any of these shows certainly hope to come away with new business opportunities in place (or in the case of industry suppliers, with equipment sold), and show organizers certainly hope that such favorable results will keep attendees and exhibitors coming back.

Additionally, though, such industry gatherings allow recyclers, their customers and their suppliers to meet for open-ended dialog, whether in a planned appointment or in an impromptu manner during a cocktail reception. Such conversations may lead to future business or can serve to raise topics that might not otherwise be discussed in the hectic office setting.

ON THE ROAD. Recycling Today staff members will be playing an active role in some of this spring’s recycling industry events.

• Dan Sandoval, senior editor and Internet editor with Recycling Today, will moderate a recycling educational session on market conditions for recyclables collected by material recovery facility and paperstock plant operators at WasteExpo May 17-20 in Dallas.

• Associate editor DeAnne Toto will offer an update on electronic scrap
recycling to Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) members at that group’s Annual Conference March 30-April 1 in Northampton, Mass.

• I look forward to being the keynote speaker at the 11th Annual Maine Recycling & Solid Waste Conference & Recyclathon April 5-6 in Rockport, Maine, organized by the Maine Resource Recovery Association. My remarks will focus on future global demand for recyclable commodities.