Publisher's Column

At the same time, when manufacturers generate scrap and byproducts, they want to ensure that those materials find an environmentally safe home and that they do not cause harm to their core business. Articles such as "Ounce of Prevention," starting on page 16, addressing fire prevention, are reflective of the types of nuts-and-bolts coverage we’ll be providing.

As long as there has been manufacturing there has been the recycling of the scrap materials generated. It's likely there has also continually been confusion as to the value of these materials and the best way to extract that value. In researching this new publication, we spoke with a former plant manager who said, "I was always responsible for marketing the plant’s scrap, but I was never sure I was getting the best value for it. Trouble was it was a small part of my responsibility, and I did not know where to go for good, reliable information." Scrap Management will be that source.

Our knowledge of the scrap and recycling industry stems from publishing Recycling Today magazine. Founded in 1963 as Secondary Raw Materials, the publication has the largest recycling market circulation in the world. Our coverage includes all facets of the recycling industry, from collection to processing, and all materials, including plastics and polymers, ferrous and nonferrous metals, specialty alloys, paper and cardboard and more. We’ll be tapping into that knowledge base and marrying it with the manufacturing knowledge from the team at Aerospace Manufacturing and Design and Today’s Medical Developments to help provide you with valuable insight.

Of course, we want to hear from you. What are the issues of most interest to you? What are the scrap challenges and dilemmas you face? What byproducts are you trying to find markets for? Let us know your questions, and we’ll do the best we can to either answer them or direct you to resources that can help.

So, again, welcome to the first issue of Scrap Management. We look forward to the opportunity to provide valuable insight on maximizing scrap value, proper scrap handling methods and taking the mystery out of at least this aspect of your challenging work.