After a difficult 2019, there were some glimmers of hope on the trade front for nonferrous scrap market participants early in 2020 with the passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the “phase one” U.S.-China trade deal, and China’s announcement to reclassify certain scrap grades from “waste” to raw materials. But as we’ve seen with the impact of the coronavirus, there are still a large number of global risk factors that continue to impact commodity markets and scrap recycling. As a result, ISRI’s role in the recycling landscape is becoming ever more critical and I would like to encourage your participation in a number of different ISRI-related endeavors.
The first is to register (if you haven’t already) and attend the 2020 ReMA Annual Convention and Exposition coming up in Las Vegas in April. The national convention provides unmatched opportunities to expand your business network, see the latest advances in recycling equipment, and get valuable insights from industry and commodity experts. We have some excellent nonferrous-related programming scheduled for this year’s convention, which you can learn more about below. My second request for your participation is regarding our ReMA specifications. We’re at a critical juncture with respect to the need for a global set of recycled commodity standards and the need to ensure that ReMA specifications reflect and promote what commodities are actually being traded. Please feel free to contact me or members of our Specifications Working Group if you would like to be involved in this important work.
Lastly, I would encourage you to participate in our Nonferrous Division leadership. As we put forward a new slate of division leaders this year, we continue to look for talented new leaders for our division to keep our division active and representative of those in the business. I look forward to seeing many of you at our ReMA Winter Meetings from February 18-21, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee as well as the 2020 ReMA Convention in Las Vegas in April. If you have any questions in the meantime about ISRI’s nonferrous division, event programming, specifications, or other issues, please don’t hesitate to contact either me or our nonferrous division liaison Joe Pickard
Sincerely,
Andy Wahl
Nonferrous Division Chair