Paper recycling industry vet to receive lifetime achievement award

The Washington-based Recycled Materials Association’s Paper Stock Industries (PSI) chapter has selected paper recycling industry veteran Joel Litman as the 2024 PSI Lifetime Achievement Award winner, an award given in memory of longtime PSI member and former President Phil Alpert.

Litman, co-owner and president of Dallas-based Texas Recycling, will be recognized Oct. 24 at the Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference in Chicago.

“Joel Litman has been a leader in the paper recycling industry for nearly 40 years, serving this chapter and our parent association with dedication and distinction,” says Tamara Mayberry of Bloomingdale, Illinois-based Pioneer Industries International and current PSI chapter president. “He represents the best of our industry and he sets an inspiring example for the rest of us to follow on all personal and professional levels.”

Photo courtesy of ReMA

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Litman joined the recycling industry in 1984 when he began working with his father, Stan, at his paper and rag recycling business, Daltex Waste Material Co. In 1992, Joel, his brother, Craig, and his father founded Texas Recycling, and since then, has helped grow the company from its three founding members to nearly 70 employees while expanding its focus to include metals and plastics. He also helped establish Action Shred of Texas, a document destruction company.

Joel Litman joins his father on the list of PSI Lifetime Achievement Award winners. Previous recipients include Stan Litman, Johnny Gold, Nini Krever, Ray Petermeyer, Ralph Simon, Crawford Carpenter and Pete Grogan.

“To look at the list of this PSI award’s past recipients, which includes my father, I’m honored that my name is being added to this esteemed and select group,” Litman says. “I'm very grateful to be recognized for my contributions to PSI, ReMA and our industry.”

Litman has been an active member and leader within the former Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, now ReMA, as well as its PSI and Gulf Coast Region (GCR) chapters. In addition to serving as a board member for then-ISRI, PSI, GCR and the Global Recycling Standards Organization, which oversees the Recycling Industry Operating Standard (RIOS), he was PSI president from 2012-2014 and ran as a candidate for then-ISRI’s national secretary/treasurer position in 2022.

In 2023, the Gulf Coast Region chapter awarded Litman its Israel Proler Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership, achievements and contributions to the recycling industry.

The Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference is being held Oct. 23-24 in Chicago.