Personnel notes

Paper Stock Industries elects new officers

Paper Stock Industries (PSI), a national chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), has elected Sandy Rosen, CEO of Great Lakes Recycling, headquartered in Roseville, Mich., president. The association held its elections Feb. 12, 2014.

Other PSI officers elected were Myles Cohen of Pratt Industries, Conyers, Ga., who was named vice president, and Leonard Zeid of Midland Davis Corp., Moline, Ill., who was named secretary/treasurer.

Rosen, who has served on the PSI’s board for the past four years, says he has a few objectives in mind for his two-year term as president.

A couple of his goals center on the association’s intent to build membership numbers and develop a stronger sense of engagement and community within the industry, Rosen says.

“I believe [PSI] should be the go-to organization for paper recyclers,” Rosen says, noting that for some prospective members, its various focus areas and goals may have been unclear at times.

He says discussions with current and prospective PSI members indicate three opportunity areas: networking events, solutions to business problems and a sense of community.

To help PSI deliver these things, Rosen has a few specific ideas in mind. One of them is to reinitiate a unique PSI conference event in 2015.

“It’s been more than three years since PSI had a conference of its own,” Rosen observes. “We’re going to do that next year,” he says, explaining that the event ideally will allow members to mix business with pleasure, featuring a short conference schedule in a popular vacation setting.

Another objective, says Rosen, is tasking PSI’s material guidelines committee with rewriting the current paper stock guidelines for newspaper grades as listed in ISRI’s “Scrap Specifications Circular,” which he says have become out of date.

“There are four different specifications in the PSI circular that describe the newspaper grade, but I don’t think any of them accurately describes the majority of newspaper being traded today,”

Rosen observes. Rosen says he also will look at ways to improve membership numbers for the association, as he believes a significant number of paper recyclers are not members of PSI, but they should be.

“I would like to set a goal to break the record for membership in 2015,” says Rosen, “and to promote the PSI brand through creative marketing. I would like it to be recognized outside the industry.”

PSI is a chapter of ISRI representing paper processors, brokers, packers, mills and others dedicated to the paper recycling industry. Its missions are to promote the industry, establish standards and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information.

ISRI names director of law enforcement outreach

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, D.C., has hired Brady Mills as its director of law enforcement outreach. In the new role, Mills will be responsible for working with the association’s recently formed Law Enforcement Advisory Council to develop and implement a law enforcement training program as well as to coordinate outreach with the law enforcement community.

“I am very pleased that Brady has joined our team,” says ISRI President Robin Wiener. “With more than 32 years in federal and state law enforcement, Brady’s background further strengthens our efforts to fight metals theft. I look forward to the positive outcomes that will result from the collaboration between Brady and ISRI’s newly created Law Enforcement Advisory Council in the development of a law enforcement training program and other outreach initiatives.”

Mills recently retired from the U.S. Secret Service after more than 27 years. He began his career in the Secret Service in 1986 in the Detroit field office followed by field assignments in the Washington, D.C., and Fresno, Calif., offices, and as resident agent in charge of the Sacramento, Calif., office.

His responsibilities will include overseeing ScrapTheftAlert.com, the industry’s online system for law enforcement to notify local scrap dealers of metals thefts.

British monarchy honors BIR division chairman

Robert Vos, chairman of the Bureau of International Recycling’s (BIR) International Trade Council and CEO of U.K.-based Voss International, has been appointed a commander of the order of the British Empire (CBE), a high honor of the British monarchy.

He earned the distinction for his service to British industry and for voluntary service in the U.K., including mentoring young entrepreneurs.

Voss also is president of EUROMETREC, the European Metal Trade and Recycling Federation, which is based in Brussels.

Equipment industry veteran announces retirement

William Guptail, a 46-year employee of General Kinematics Corp. (GK), Crystal Lake, Ill., has announced his retirement.

He focused on the scrap and construction and demolition (C&D) recycling sectors and was inducted into the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association Hall of Fame in 2013.

Guptail began working in the industry in the early 1980s as “an outgrowth of his work in the waste-to-energy industry,” GK says, where companies were looking for opportunities to recover commodities from the C&D stream. GK lauds his “innate mechanical curiosity, hands-on approach and amiable personality.”

Guptail pioneered and patented several C&D sorting innovations, including GK’s primary finger screen for size separation, a secondary line for fines and the vibratory Destoner for density separation. He also worked on mechanical sorting techniques for downstream automobile shredding applications.

“The General Kinematics core philosophy of combining innovative technologies with production process insight and creativity to deliver the highest quality equipment and solutions in the industry is demonstrated by Bill’s career and commitment to seek improvements,” says GK.