Paper or Plastic?

IN DEMAND. "Market demand for an event focusing on plastics recycling has never been greater," says Jim Keefe, Recycling Today Media Group publisher. "With energy and petroleum costs at an all-time high, more and more organizations are looking to the effectiveness of secondary plastics as a significant cost-saving opportunity."

The new plastics program will be held in conjunction with the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show, a seven-year-old event that has drawn more than 500 attendees each of the past two years. Attendees can pay to have access to sessions across both events.

Attendees of either event will have access to a joint exhibit hall, which will feature displays from some four dozen equipment and service providers, many of whom serve both industry segments.

The new conference will open two days after NPE 2006 closes in Chicago, giving plastics recyclers the opportunity to remain in the Windy City to attend both events.

WIDE SCOPE. Sessions at Recycling Today’s Plastics Recycling Conference will cover a half-dozen subjects of interest to collectors, processors, brokers and consumers of plastic scrap.

Among the topics: gobal demand for plastic scrap; plastic that can be harvested from the electronics stream; sorting and separating technology; best practices in municipal programs; and the often demanding quality and purity standards of plastic scrap consumers.

Conference organizers believe many traditional Paper Recycling Conference attendees will have an interest in registering for both events jointly, as many of the companies they represent have branched out into handling plastic beverage containers, pallet wrap or other packaging materials, electronic scrap or other forms of plastic scrap.