Paper or Plastic?

PAPER TIGERS. 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 the latest equipment and service offerings in the exhibit hall and numerous networking opportunities.

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.

This year’s programming includes sessions on overcoming quality concerns, uncovering new sources of supply, navigating export markets and dealing with higher transportation costs.

Bill Moore of Moore & Associates, Atlanta, will moderate the keynote session Monday, June 26, titled "Recycling in a Smaller World." R.S. Baxi of J&H Sales (International) Ltd., Shawn Lavin of Waste Management/Recycle America and Steve Voorhees of Rock-Tenn will offer their views on the present state of the paper recycling industry and their predictions as to where the industry is headed in the future.

The closing session Tuesday, June 27, will bring together Joe Albrycht, Mississippi River Corp.; Marty Rusk, Corrugated Services; and Lisa White, SP Newsprint, for a roundtable discussion from the mill buyers’ perspective. Rusty Getter of Balcones Resources, Austin, Texas, will serve as moderator for this interactive session.

A session titled "Avoiding Transportation Rage" will shed light on some of the transportation issues facing recyclers today, such as California’s Pier Pass program. Panelists will include Scott Horne, general counsel for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. and Michael McInerney of Celtic Logistics.

Monday’s "Staking Claims to New Supply Lines" includes panelists who will offer suggestions for digging deeper into the waste stream to divert more paper and OCC for recycling. Speakers include Ron Gonen of RecycleBank, a recycling incentive program that began in two Philadelphia communities and has garnered much national attention. The program not only offers incentives to residents who recycle, it also offers municipalities a wealth of detailed information on their residents’ recycling habits.

Gonen will also address attendees of Recycling Today’s Plastics Recycling Conference & Trade Show, offering additional details about the recovery of post-consumer plastics through the RecycleBank program.

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

Now in its sixth year the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show will be joined by a companion conference for the plastics recycling industry.

EXPANDING PLASTICS. Prices for secondary plastics have reached new highs in the last year, fueling increased interest in the material. 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 ofplastic brokers, traders, reclaimers and secondary consumers.