More of Everything

Brian Taylor

The theme chosen for the 2012 Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) Annual Convention is “Be More,” and it is a theme the event’s organizers intend to convey several meanings.

According to ISRI Vice President of Member Services Chuck Carr, when interviewed for last month’s edition of Recycling Today, the convention’s workshops and sessions can help recyclers “be more” informed; the equipment and services exhibit hall can help them “be more” efficient and profitable; and the evening programs and banquets (and Las Vegas in general) can help them “be more” entertained.

During the past decade, most recyclers have had to be more informed and efficient in particular, as their services and products have certainly been more in demand.

As portrayed in this issue’s cover story (“Hearty Appetite,” starting on p. 60), global economic forces led by the unbridled growth of China’s economy have created a growing appetite for scrap metals, paper and plastics.

Although there has been no shortage of volatility or economic speed bumps along the way, the underlying demand for material from China has been a constant recycling market factor for the past two decades.

This hungry market has allowed recyclers to keep hunting for more material and keep their processing equipment fed with as much feedstock as they can cull from America’s factories, distribution centers, shopping malls and residential neighborhoods.

A second positive force also has been helping recyclers be more confident in their outlook. The buzzword “sustainability” has demonstrated remarkable staying power in the corporate world, with retail CEOs, manufacturing chief operating officers, university presidents, architects and any number of other decision makers keeping a much closer eye on their discarded materials and their recycled-content purchases than they would have 20 years ago.

There is no guarantee that either of these two trends can last forever, and in particular China’s growth curve must inevitably become gentler.

The events of the past two decades, however, seem likely to have caused positive net effects on the recycling industry. Even after secondary commodity prices fall from their historic highs, new habits and patterns concerning how discarded materials are collected and directed are likely to stay in place.

Some recyclers may likely be worrying that the increased attention to materials collection will, during a future market trough, prove to be the source of an unwelcome glut of material.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2012, however, recyclers are still focused on “more,” including finding more material in places that can lead to more profitability.