Spinning a Web that Works for You

By now you are sick of hearing people urging you to get wired to the Internet. You have already either made up your mind to reject it or embrace it, and no amount of cajoling in a magazine article is going to make the difference. If you haven’t yet taken the plunge and still don’t know the difference between a web browser and webbed feet, then this article may not be for you. But if you are online and putting the Internet to use for you and your business—keep reading.

The amount of information available on the web is nearly infinite and certainly overwhelming. Unless you know how to navigate its murky waters, you could end up spending a lot of time digging through pages and pages of useless information. The recycling industry, like nearly every other industry, is finding a place on the Net. And happily, there’s more to recycling’s Internet presence than sales pitches and shoddily thrown together sites. There are also valuable informational resources to be mined. If you know what is available and where to look, the best the Net has to offer could create opportunities and save a lot of time.

This is an informal tour to some of the must-stop places online that could save you hours in phone calls, library research and even web browser query searches. Consider it a partial list of some of the most applicable sites to the recycling industry—the start of a reference section for those putting together their own recycling library.

GOVERNMENT ISSUE

Often, for marketing or sales forecast reasons, companies in the recycling industry turn to the Internet to gather and examine statistical data. Tracking commodity histories and crunching numbers is sometimes the best way to get a grasp on the current state of the industry. Some of the best sources for this statistical information comes from the government agencies who make it their job to know what is happening with specific commodities at all times. And, the Internet has helped greatly speed up the distribution of this statistical data.

For those on the metals side of the recycling industry, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Reston, Va., has a particularly helpful website (www.minerals.usgs.gov/minerals). The home page of this agency’s site states that it provides “current, unbiased information on the occurrence, quality, quantity, and availability of mineral resources.”

Among USGS’ main features is an alphabetical listing of commodity statistics and general information on those commodities. Simply scroll down the list to, say, copper and click on a link that provides you with a gateway to information that will give you annual commodity summaries for as far back as 1996, and monthly analysis for as far back as January 1999. This is only a small part of what USGS has to offer. Following the copper link will also provide you with a contact for a USGS copper commodity specialist, external links to the international copper study group, yearbooks, annuals and special publications—all related to copper. The statistics presented are not only for primary copper, but for scrap copper as well.

Other features include information on natural aggregates, mine and mineral processing plant locations and links to online mineral resources. There is also a searchable database, if you are having a hard time locating what you’re looking for.

The site is updated constantly with new data and new types of data popping up regularly. To update some of the data you may need Adobe Acrobat Reader, available for free, via a link, from the USGS homepage.

To keep up with the laws and regulations affecting the recycling industry, a good place to start is the website of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) www.epa.gov. Aside from some enlightening information about environmental issues and concerns, this site is a comprehensive source of industry information.

Just click on the “industry” button on the site’s main page and you will be linked to a page offering a breakdown of sources that include industry sector notebooks (with industry backgrounds, emission outputs and summaries of applicable regulations), programs and assistance data (business initiatives, voluntary programs and compliance assistance), quick access to EPA regulations and environmental legislation, access to EPA technical documents and a gateway to data extracted from seven major EPA databases.

Of course the main page can link you to even more, less industry-related information on EPA news and events, resources for students and teachers, databases and software links, “money matters,” environmental games for kids, and links to other online resources. A searchable database is also available, as well as a search engine that accepts ZIP code queries.

TRADE GROUPS STAKE A CLAIM

Like government agencies, trade associations have a lot of specialized information to offer the industry via the web. Some associations feature little more than links to the websites of corporate members, but others have made their websites comprehensive points of contact for their industries.

The American Forest & Paper Association, Washington, is the national trade association of the paper and wood industry. Its website (www.afandpa.org) offers a great deal of interest to those in the paper recycling industry.

The site offers a wealth of statistical information about the wood and paper products industry. This section highlights available information in additions to programs supported by the AF&PA. Subscriptions and individual data reports are available for sale, but most of the statistical information is free to members of AF&PA.

The site also outlines the history of the industry, detailed outlines of legislation and policy related to the paper industry and general news, posted regularly to keep visitors up to date. Those curious about the paper industry, or even paper in general, have the opportunity to learn plenty from the fun facts posted on the “paper products” link button and the kids and educators’ page. Again, a searchable database and a list of links to external sites are available to guide you in the right direction if you’re not finding what you want.

The Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Montreal, (www.cppa.org) is also worth a look. It offers similar information as AF&PA and lots of free statistical data. Some data requires Acrobat Reader.

Where metals are concerned, the Steel Recycling Institute, Pittsburgh, has a clean, flashy and easy to navigate site at www.recycle-steel.org. The page’s different departments are divided into cars, cans, appliances and construction materials. Clicking on an icon for each of these transports you to a wealth of related information.

Also easily accessible from the home page are recycling rates for 1999 with a breakdown of bar charts and explanations, lots of literature on the current state of steel recycling, listings of steel processing facilities in geographic areas, and, again, a page to educate the kiddies about recycling featuring the lovable, huggable, Roscoe the Recyclable Steel Can, SRI’s spokescan.

Also accessible through the main page is a gateway to the Recycling Magnet, a quarterly publication of the Steel Recycling Institute. You must register to access the Magnet, but signing up is free.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), Washington, has redesigned its site, and the improvements show. Like SRI’s, ISRI offers a sharp, easy-to-navigate site with lots of easy to access information at www.isri.org. Starting with the homepage, click on the “About Scrap Recycling” and you’ll have access to free statistics and commodity information. Much of this information requires Acrobat Reader.

Members of ISRI receive even more information and can get even more from the site. There is a section on government relations, featuring federal and state legislation and policies, and staff and issue expertise. There are also links to pages where you’ll find access to schedules and minutes from industry conferences, weekly industry reports and a scrap specification circular. Throw in pages dedicated to public relations tips, a market place for used equipment sales and trading, the standard searchable database and all the ISRI-related public relations information you can handle, and its clear why ISRI’s site is one of the most popular in its field.

THE TANGLED WEB

When performing web searches using keywords like “recycling” or “steel,” there is no telling what might pop up. Beyond the government and trade association sites, a host of recycling-related companies have a presence on the web.

Many scrap companies, recycling equipment companies, publishers and manufacturers who consume recyc-lables have a web presence of their own. Beyond that, some entrepreneurs are making attempts to bring the recycling community together online.

Case in point: Recycler’s World at www.recycle.net is a popular industry site that has been around for about five years. According to the homepage it “was established as a world wide trading site for information related to secondary or recyclable commodities, by-products, used & surplus items or materials.” In other words, it’s a market place, first and foremost, but most of the sales-pitch banners are pretty easy to dodge. In fact, banner advertising is about the only thing that separates recycle.net from some of the best government and association sites. Like those sites, there are comprehensive listings and directories. Unlike those sites it covers nearly every area of recycling—including iron, steel, non-ferrous, precious metals, plastics, tire and rubber, paper, wood, textile, glass and composting. There’s a used equipment section that offers a breakdown of traders, equipment companies and associations as well as equipment publications. There is also a used commercial item section, structured similarly.

There are a lot of good links that can take you off in hundreds of different directions, fine-tuning your search as you go. The directory listings, though helpful and impressive for a non-agency site, are not all-inclusive, so by no means are entire industry segments represented.

Though the alphabetized table of contents does help when you know exactly what you’re looking for, one thing sorely missing from the site is a searchable database. Aside from that, it’s one of the best sources for getting familiar with the marketplace.

Of course, it’s difficult for us to cover the Internet without at least mentioning our portal on the net at www.recyclingtoday.com. If you are a subscriber who is online, chances are you know what the site has to offer. In addition to presenting the contents of the monthly magazine, the site offers bulletin board “discussion” opportunities, an additional new product spotlight area, and the ability to search past issues of Recycling Today and directories produced by the publisher.

The Recycling Today Media Group also offers paper recyclers a particularly valuable service at its FibreMarketNews.com website, where current secondary paper prices are displayed at no cost to registered users. Traditionally, Fibre Market News and other publications offered their pricing only to subscribers who paid upwards of $100 per year.

Another place that offers a global look at the industry is the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) at www.bir.org. Based in Brussels, the BIR offers a global view of the recycling markets, and often contains information that can be particularly helpful in understanding the European recycling markets.

Sites such as the BIR’s help demonstrate how the Internet is one of several telecommunications advances making the world a “smaller” place. For those who are active in the global trading markets, the site is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of ways to reach out to recyclers across international borders and on every continent. RT

The author is a staff member of Recycling Today.