An eager host

When the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) last convened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in May 2009, recyclers and secondary commodities traders were coping with a market that was trying to get back on its feet after the financial crisis, plummeting commodity prices and renegotiated and cancelled transactions of late 2008.

As the BIR prepares to reconvene in Dubai in May 2015, the commodities market has again hit a rough patch, with ferrous prices in particular in the midst of a trough in early 2015.

The Brussels-based BIR says it will provide insight into the current market turmoil when it gathers in Dubai at the InterContinental Festival City hotel May 17-20. It also will provide some welcome distractions in the form of receptions and sightseeing opportunities that display the prosperous emirate of Dubai.
 

Change in plans

The BIR 2015 World Recycling Convention was initially scheduled to take place in Bangkok. Political turmoil in that nation, however, caused the international recycling organization to change its plans and seek a new venue.

Dubai, with its bounteous hotel and hospitality infrastructure as well as a willing and eager regional partner in the form of the Dubai-based Bureau of Middle East Recycling (BMR), stepped in to welcome the convention on short notice.

Although Dubai and Bangkok are more than 3,000 miles apart, they both reside within the continent of Asia. The BIR says it plans to focus much of its programming on Asia, the world’s most populous continent, which also is home to some of the fastest-growing economies.

“The BIR convention in Dubai will provide unique insight into the recycling market in the Middle East, with of course privileged access to market information also from India and China,” says Elisabeth Christ, BIR communications director.

She continues, “As for speakers, and of course apart from the presentations made by the different board members, most of our commodity divisions and committees will invite industry experts from the Middle East, India and China, who will give a ‘local flavor’ to the meetings.”

Among the BIR divisions, committees and councils that will convene in Dubai during the convention are the Ferrous, Non-ferrous, Paper and Textiles divisions; the Shredder, Stainless Steel & Special Alloys, E-Scrap, Plastics and Tyres & Rubber committees; and the International Environment and International Trade councils.

In the expectation that the event will attract delegates from the Middle East region and from Asia’s two largest nations, the BIR will offer extra translation services in addition to its customary simultaneous translation into several European languages. “With simultaneous translation in Chinese and Arabic, we will be providing the possibility to many local and regional businesspeople to come and share their knowledge with BIR delegates without language restraint,” Christ says.

Recyclers and traders naturally will gravitate to the division meetings for the materials they specialize in “to learn important market data and developments,” Christ says. Many attendees also benefit by broadening their horizons at additional meetings, she comments.

Christ recommends the International Environment Council and the International Trade Council meetings, where delegates can “get updates on important trade and legislative developments.”

For those individuals seeking data, Christ says the BIR “will also publish a number of new statistics, mainly on ferrous and nonferrous” metals recycling, which will be made available at the Dubai World Recycling Convention.
 

Time to talk

The majority of World Recycling Convention delegates attend not only to hear from speakers and presenters but also to meet up with current trading partners and to cultivate new ones.

Christ says long-time BIR members are well-aware of the convention’s role as a meeting place, but she reassures prospective new attendees that they will be making the right choice if they decide to head to Dubai in May.

“For anybody who has not been to a BIR convention before, the most important thing to know is that he or she will meet, in two or three days, all key players and key contacts from the most important recycling companies involved in international business,” she says. The BIR World Recycling Convention provides “in one spot the business for which a person would normally need to travel the world,” Christ adds.

Those conversations may occur before and after division, committee and council meetings in an impromptu fashion or at several events the BIR has planned.

Among the numerous networking breaks and receptions (some by invitation only, it should be noted) that the BIR has scheduled during the 2015 World Recycling Convention are:

• a reception for members of the press Sunday evening, May 17, and a dinner for BIR Advisory Council members;
• an exhibition and hospitality area open throughout the day both Monday, May 18, and Tuesday, May 19;
• breakfast meetings of the Ferrous Division board and the Shredder Committee board on Monday morning;
• a Monday luncheon sponsored by the Ferrous Division and the Stainless Steel & Special Alloys Committee;
• the “An Arabian Night” reception Monday evening (See the sidebar, “Out and About in Dubai,” on this page.);
• breakfast meetings for members of the Non-Ferrous Division board and the Latin American Committee Tuesday;
• a Tuesday luncheon sponsored by the group’s Non-ferrous Division and the E-Scrap Committee;
• a “Meet the Exhibitors” gathering Tuesday evening;
• a Young Traders Networking evening event Tuesday for delegates 35 years of age and younger;
• a National Association Directors dinner Tuesday evening;
• a breakfast meeting for members of the Paper Division board Wednesday, May 20; and
• a Wednesday luncheon sponsored by the Paper Division, Plastics Committee, Textiles Division and the Tyres & Rubber Committee.
   

Among the governance matters BIR will attend to in Dubai is the election of the organization’s new president and treasurer, “who will be leading the organization for two years, renewable for another two years,” Christ says.

 

More information about the 2015 BIR World Recycling Convention in Dubai, including the schedule and how to register, is available at www.bir.org/conventionwebsite/dubai2015/home.

The author is editor of Recycling Today and can be contacted at btaylor@gie.net.