Recycling on the Riverfront

The National Recycling Coalition’s 18th Annual Congress & Exposition, to be held from Sept. 26 to 29 in Cincinnati, will focus on recycling success stories and how to "Make the Triple Play." The site will provide a central location for the expected 2,000 attendees, says Rebecca Mebane, director of conferences and meetings for the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), Alexandria, Va.

The NRC Congress features educational sessions, workshops and roundtable discussions, tours and an exhibit hall with more than 100 exhibitors.

The Congress is also a chance for individuals in the recycling industry to network and learn about changes in the recycling industry, says NRC Executive Director Will Ferretti.

"The Congress is serving as a forum where our members are refining and honing their skills and learning form their peers the latest strategies being employed," Ferretti says. "Programs offered by the NRC are designed to serve the most people possible and to provide the information most demanded by members."

In the past few years changes have taken place at the NRC and the organization has changed its approach to serving members, says Ferretti. "We are taking a much more rigorous approach to that since I’ve been on board," Ferretti says of changes that occurred over the past three years at the NRC. "We look at programs and ask if these programs are aligned with our strategic plan. Our strategic plan is our bible because it is centered around what we should be doing to address member challenges and to study approaches that could better serve those needs."

Part of the motivation for those changes was a somewhat bleak financial outlook for the NRC that made the organization evaluate program offerings and look closely at who was being served by each program. This enabled the organization to become more cost efficient and to make sure programs and conventions met members needs, he says.

"We’re giving more focus and attention to making the work we do directly translatable to our members," Ferretti says. "We’re most interested as serving not as just an academic research organization, but to provide real tools our members can use and providing the means to use those tools."

One change the NRC has helped individuals make through programs and the Congress is making the transition to becoming professionals in the recycling industry.

"Those folks who were first members (as volunteers mostly) are now being employed as recycling professionals," Ferretti says. "Our community has become professional over time and the NRC has facilitated that, primarily through the Congress. It provides a forum for those who have become professionals to learn their jobs."

Sessions at this year’s NRC Congress will cover a broad range of topics, including:

l Selecting the Best Recycling

Program for Your Community

l Markets for Scrap Tires

l Marketing Recycled Products

l Financing Trends in the

Recycling Industry

l Electronics and Appliance

Recovery.

THE LURE OF THE EXPO FLOOR

Another important component of the Congress for attendees, corporations and associations are the exhibits at the show. Many corporations, municipal programs and associations in the recycling industry exhibit at the show each year and find it beneficial to business.

Craig Barry, executive director of the Carolina Recycling Association, Raleigh, N.C., will be exhibiting at the show again and finds it beneficial to the association. "We meet a lot of people involved in recycling from around the country, including potential members (of the association)," he says. "From an association standpoint, it is important for us to show other people in the country what we’re doing. The Carolinas usually have a pretty strong showing."

Many companies continue to exhibit at NRC Congress year after year and find the show a good way to reach audiences they usually don’t come into contact with. Peter Grogan, manager of market development for Weyerhaeuser Recycling, Tacoma, Wash., says the NRC Congress is a good way to reach a vast audience.

"We feel it is one of the premier recycling conferences that brings together a variety of actors and players we want to be meeting with and talking with," Grogan says. "One of the audiences you have in attendance in strong numbers at NRC that we don’t necessarily see is municipal and county- based programs where a large volume of paper is coming from."

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), Washington, will be exhibiting and participating in educational sessions at NRC. "We try to do some sessions that we think will be of help to the recycling industry," says Patricia Layton of the AF&PA. "It is a good point in time to help municipal recyclers understand what materials we have available."

This year’s keynote speaker will be Amy Domini Kinder, of Domini Social Investments, LLC. She is founder and chair of the Domini Social Equity Fund, a mutual fund that appeals to those who try to integrate social or ethical criteria into their investment framework.

Domini has written several books on the subject, including Ethical Investing (1984) and the Social Investment Almanac (1992). She is also a past board member of the National Association of Community Development Loan Funds, an organization that pools funds for economic development loans. RT

The author is assistant editor of Recycling Today.

(Sidebar)

The Scene in Cincinnati

Cincinnati, set on the scenic Ohio River, is the site for the 18th Annual National Recycling Coalition Congress and Exposition. The city is in the southwestern corner of the town, near the borders of Kentucky and Indiana.

The land surrounding Cincinnati was opened to American settlement as part of the Northwest Territory in 1787. Benjamin Stites began the first settlement in what is now Cincinnati the next year, calling it Columbia. A second settlement called Losantiville, a combination of Latin, Greek, French and Delaware Indian meaning "town opposite the mouth of the Licking River," was started shortly thereafter. That settlement’s name was changed to Cincinnati the next year by General Arthur St. Clair, the first governor of the Northwest Territory, in honor of the Society of Cincinnati, an organization of Revolutionary War officers founded by George Washington. Cincinnati was chartered as a village in 1802 and was incorporated as a city in 1819.

While in Cincinnati, NCR Congress attendees will be minutes from the Cincinnati Zoo, parts of the Hamilton County Park system and Cynergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium), home of the Reds baseball team and Bengals football team. Also along the Ohio River is Riverboat Row, which offers restaurants and nightclubs.

Those willing to venture further from downtown can ride the world’s longest wooden roller coaster, The Beast, at Paramount’s Kings Island or cross into Kentucky to visit the new Newport Aquarium, featuring a walk-through tunnel. The Cincinnati Museum of Art or the Cincinnati Museum Center, which has a 5-story domed Omnimax Theater, are also leisure time options.

Shopping opportunities available while in Cincinnati include Tower Place at the Carew Tower, located at Fourth and Race Streets; Kenwood Towne Center, located just off of I-71 at exit 12; and the Dry Ridge Outlet Center in Dry Ridge, Ky.