BIR Convention: Earning a reputation

The president of the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), in a general assembly address at the BIR’s World Recycling Convention in late May in Barcelona, asked fellow members to “challenge misconceptions about what we do” to help clarify the resource and emissions savings achieved by recycling.

“Over the years, we have allowed stereotypical views of the industry to prevail and have sold ourselves short in terms of our importance,” BIR President Tom Bird said at the event. “We as an industry, now more than ever, need to convey to the world the essential role we play in protecting the planet from climate change and the environmental damage caused by the extraction of primary raw materials.”

Bird added, “We must not sleepwalk into ever more restrictive legislation. Global free trade in recycled raw materials is essential for a truly global circular economy.”

Earlier, Bird had pointed to the potentially “disastrous” consequences of proposals for a significantly stricter EU Waste Shipment Regulation, which he said would directly affect not only Europe’s exporters but also importing businesses around the world. “This is not just a European problem, it’s happening in other parts of the world,” he said.

Bird continued, “I would urge you all to become involved in this debate, to promote the truth about our industry’s exceptional skills and to challenge misconceptions about what we do. Our unity of purpose and of voice remain crucial if we are to win through.”

Reviewing market developments, Bird said that 2021 had brought “strong trading conditions throughout the year as the world tried to return to some kind of normality”. Unfortunately, he added, that measure of normality had proved to be “short-lived,” primarily because of the negative economic and political effects caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to BIR Treasurer Andy Wahl of Atlanta-based TAV Holdings Inc., global uncertainties had played their part in persuading the world recycling organization to adopt a “prudent and conservative” budget for 2022, with a projected deficit slightly greater than that recorded for 2021.

The continued support of members and the diligence of the BIR secretariat had ensured that expenditure was kept under control and that membership numbers were maintained, said Wahl. On a related note, the General Assembly in Barcelona saw the formal ratification of 88 new member companies or national associations to have joined the BIR since June of last year. Bird described that figure as “absolutely fantastic.”

General Assembly approval also was received for the BIR’s financial statement for 2021 and for its budget proposal for 2022, as well as for an increase in membership dues for fiscal year 2023. It will be the first dues increase to be implemented since 2015.

Wahl said he anticipated a more positive outlook by the end of the current year, fueled in part by what he called excellent attendance figures for the Barcelona Convention: exactly 1,300 participants drawn from more than 600 companies and more than 60 countries.

During the General Assembly, a few moments’ silence was observed to mark the recent deaths of former BIR President Heinz de Fries and Ferrous Division board member Frank Heukeshoven. Both would be greatly missed, Bird said.

The 2022 BIR World Recycling Convention was May 22-25 in Barcelona.