Get Active!

Macon Iron & Paper Stock Co. executives say that to let people know what recycling is all about, recyclers must be seen, must get involved with government and civic associations, and must get active in their communities.

"Much of our advertising was directed at letting people know who we are and what we do," he says. "We were using ads alone to build our image." He's realizing, however, that advertising can't build a company image as well as a well-rounded public relations program can. Scrap processors may not have needed public relations in the past, he says, but the scrutiny under which the industry must operate because of intensifying environmental concerns, along with the fact that many communities do not understand the whole recycling picture, is making image-building almost a requirement today.

Public relations efforts at Macon Iron & Paper Stock Co. emphasize relationships--with civic groups, business associations, local officials, community members, and employees. Involvement at the national and local level with its trade association, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), is also vital to the company's success, says Koplin.

Got Out in Front

The push for public relations at the firm has been going on for many years through activity in local organizations, and it intensified as Koplin saw the media calling recycling a new phenomenon. He realized that most people didn't know companies like his had been recycling for decades.

Many of the company's public relations activities have been in conjunction with the local Keep America Beautiful program. The Keep Macon-Bibb [County] Beautiful Commission (KMBBC) formed a recycling committee, on which Evan and his uncle who recently retired from Macon Iron, Alvin Koplin, have served for several years. KMBBC often asks company representatives to discuss recycling on radio and television, to speak to local service groups, and to visit local schools to tell the recycling story.

One of KMBBC's major activities is running the two-week Cherry Blossom Festival held every spring in Macon. In 1989, Macon Iron & Paper Stock Co. became a cosponsor of the festival parade telecast. The commercials were the company's "first big effort" at wide-ranging image building, says Evan. This year, the company is considering entering a float in the parade.

Close involvement with the local chamber of commerce by. Evan's father, company President Myron Koplin, and Evan's brothers, Vice President of Operations and Personnel Henry Koplin and Chip Koplin, who has been learning the business for the past two years, also demonstrate the company's civic-mindedness. In addition, Evan, Henry, and Chip are actively involved with various charitable and educational community groups.

As an active member of the Business Council of Georgia, Macon Iron & Paper Stock participates in state and local government activities. The well-known council periodically sponsors forums for national and local legislators, offering businesspeople the opportunity to get to know and communicate with elected officials. Macon Iron & Paper Stock asked that the business council recommend to the governor that ReMA Southeastern Chapter Legislative Affairs Director Steven L. Levetan serve on the state Joint Solid Waste Study Committee, based on his business experience, recycling expertise, and communications ability. He subsequently was appointed. The study committee is a select group of representatives of government and private industry that is working on directions the state should take in managing its existing and future solid waste legislation.

Evan makes it a point to keep in constant touch with state, county, and city officials. "We're on a personal-friendship basis with many local officials," he says. "They call us with recycling questions."

As part of its public relations program, the firm held a plant tour in October, inviting local and state elected officials to see firsthand the role it plays in reducing solid waste in the state. Seventy attendees were shown through the Lower Poplar Road processing facility. For some, eyes were opened. Evan says one attendee told him he didn't know this type of business existed in Macon. For others, the recycling picture was completed. "I have always been curious about what happens with cans and newspapers ... which are sold to be recycled," wrote Stephen W. Massey, Bibb County Board of Education member, following the tour. "Much to my amazement, I found ... that [recycling] is a much more complex situation than people realize."

Evan was equally surprised about some of the perceptions people have about his industry. "I took it for granted everyone knew what I know about recycling," he says. "I realized that many people need educating on the subject." During a talk he gave at the tour, he told attendees that the state should not duplicate established recycling activities already being performed at no cost to the taxpayer. State Sen. Hugh Gillis and state Rep. Robert Patten, both members of the Joint Solid Waste Study Committee who toured the facility, agreed with this concept in addresses to the tour group. Evan adds that the local Clean Community Commission has believed this to be a valid concept for several years.

Get to the People

Putting the "public" in public relations are Macon Iron & Paper Stock Co.'s community activities. The firm is participating in a program with KMBBC in which the company donates $1.00 for each ton of glass, newspaper, and aluminum cans received at its retail purchasing location on Oak Street. The money is used for recycling education and KMBBC beautification projects. Contests have been held between schools to see which could collect the most recyclables within a given period of time. An art contest with a local college will reward the best sculpture made of recyclable material gathered from Macon Iron & Paper Stock's yard.

The firm plans to participate in Earth Day 20th-anniversary activities in April by setting up a recycling display in the local shopping mall. The display will show how the company processes scrap and will explain its benefit to the community. Since the firm has a facility adjacent to the park where festivities will take place, part of the plans include encouraging Earth Day program attendees to bring recyclables for drop-off.

Good community relations don't always involve such pleasant activities, Evan says. Recent thefts from mill supply houses in the area prompted Evan and a representative of a nearby company to offer assistance to the local chief of police in his investigation of the matter. Says Evan, "It's important to have a good relationship with the police," who appreciate the cooperation.

Being members of ReMA keeps the principals at Macon Iron & Paper Stock up on industry affairs. Evan is on ReMA's Public Relations Committee, Young Executives Committee, and UBC [Used Beverage Can] Subcommittee. In the Southeastern Chapter, he is a member of the executive committee and the public relations committee and is editor of the chapter newsletter. Myron is active in the chapter and was involved with the Metals Committee of the Institute of Scrap Iron and Steel, an ReMA Predecessor Organization. Henry serves as treasurer of a related group, the Georgia Association of Scrap Processors.

"A lot of our knowledge comes from ReMA meetings and seminars," Evan states. "By sharing experiences with other processors and consumers, you learn more at board meetings--and outside of meetings--than you'd ever realize. I cannot underscore enough the value of ISRI."

Get in Touch

If there is an underlying philosophy to Macon Iron & Paper Stock Co.'s public relations push, it's that relationships are key. "We let people know we're here and can capably serve their recycling needs," Evan explains. "We stay in touch with local officials and citizens; we volunteer our help and advice; we keep up-to-date on the issues." The firm has come a long way in its promotional efforts since its first ad appeared in the September 28, 1919, edition of the Macon Telegraph and News.

Macon Iron & Paper Stock Co. executives say that to let people know what recycling is all about, recyclers must be seen, must get involved with government and civic associations, and must get active in their communities.

"Much of our advertising was directed at letting people know who we are and what we do," he says. "We were using ads alone to build our image." He's realizing, however, that advertising can't build a company image as well as a well-rounded public relations program can. Scrap processors may not have needed public relations in the past, he says, but the scrutiny under which the industry must operate because of intensifying environmental concerns, along with the fact that many communities do not understand the whole recycling picture, is making image-building almost a requirement today.

Public relations efforts at Macon Iron & Paper Stock Co. emphasize relationships--with civic groups, business associations, local officials, community members, and employees. Involvement at the national and local level with its trade association, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), is also vital to the company's success, says Koplin.

Got Out in Front

The push for public relations at the firm has been going on for many years through activity in local organizations, and it intensified as Koplin saw the media calling recycling a new phenomenon. He realized that most people didn't know companies like his had been recycling for decades.

Many of the company's public relations activities have been in conjunction with the local Keep America Beautiful program. The Keep Macon-Bibb [County] Beautiful Commission (KMBBC) formed a recycling committee, on which Evan and his uncle who recently retired from Macon Iron, Alvin Koplin, have served for several years. KMBBC often asks company representatives to discuss recycling on radio and television, to speak to local service groups, and to visit local schools to tell the recycling story.

One of KMBBC's major activities is running the two-week Cherry Blossom Festival held every spring in Macon. In 1989, Macon Iron & Paper Stock Co. became a cosponsor of the festival parade telecast. The commercials were the company's "first big effort" at wide-ranging image building, says Evan. This year, the company is considering entering a float in the parade.

Close involvement with the local chamber of commerce by. Evan's father, company President Myron Koplin, and Evan's brothers, Vice President of Operations and Personnel Henry Koplin and Chip Koplin, who has been learning the business for the past two years, also demonstrate the company's civic-mindedness. In addition, Evan, Henry, and Chip are actively involved with various charitable and educational community groups.

As an active member of the Business Council of Georgia, Macon Iron & Paper Stock participates in state and local government activities. The well-known council periodically sponsors forums for national and local legislators, offering businesspeople the opportunity to get to know and communicate with elected officials. Macon Iron & Paper Stock asked that the business council recommend to the governor that ReMA Southeastern Chapter Legislative Affairs Director Steven L. Levetan serve on the state Joint Solid Waste Study Committee, based on his business experience, recycling expertise, and communications ability. He subsequently was appointed. The study committee is a select group of representatives of government and private industry that is working on directions the state should take in managing its existing and future solid waste legislation.

Evan makes it a point to keep in constant touch with state, county, and city officials. "We're on a personal-friendship basis with many local officials," he says. "They call us with recycling questions."

As part of its public relations program, the firm held a plant tour in October, inviting local and state elected officials to see firsthand the role it plays in reducing solid waste in the state. Seventy attendees were shown through the Lower Poplar Road processing facility. For some, eyes were opened. Evan says one attendee told him he didn't know this type of business existed in Macon. For others, the recycling picture was completed. "I have always been curious about what happens with cans and newspapers ... which are sold to be recycled," wrote Stephen W. Massey, Bibb County Board of Education member, following the tour. "Much to my amazement, I found ... that [recycling] is a much more complex situation than people realize."

Evan was equally surprised about some of the perceptions people have about his industry. "I took it for granted everyone knew what I know about recycling," he says. "I realized that many people need educating on the subject." During a talk he gave at the tour, he told attendees that the state should not duplicate established recycling activities already being performed at no cost to the taxpayer. State Sen. Hugh Gillis and state Rep. Robert Patten, both members of the Joint Solid Waste Study Committee who toured the facility, agreed with this concept in addresses to the tour group. Evan adds that the local Clean Community Commission has believed this to be a valid concept for several years.

Get to the People

Putting the "public" in public relations are Macon Iron & Paper Stock Co.'s community activities. The firm is participating in a program with KMBBC in which the company donates $1.00 for each ton of glass, newspaper, and aluminum cans received at its retail purchasing location on Oak Street. The money is used for recycling education and KMBBC beautification projects. Contests have been held between schools to see which could collect the most recyclables within a given period of time. An art contest with a local college will reward the best sculpture made of recyclable material gathered from Macon Iron & Paper Stock's yard.

The firm plans to participate in Earth Day 20th-anniversary activities in April by setting up a recycling display in the local shopping mall. The display will show how the company processes scrap and will explain its benefit to the community. Since the firm has a facility adjacent to the park where festivities will take place, part of the plans include encouraging Earth Day program attendees to bring recyclables for drop-off.

Good community relations don't always involve such pleasant activities, Evan says. Recent thefts from mill supply houses in the area prompted Evan and a representative of a nearby company to offer assistance to the local chief of police in his investigation of the matter. Says Evan, "It's important to have a good relationship with the police," who appreciate the cooperation.

Being members of ReMA keeps the principals at Macon Iron & Paper Stock up on industry affairs. Evan is on ReMA's Public Relations Committee, Young Executives Committee, and UBC [Used Beverage Can] Subcommittee. In the Southeastern Chapter, he is a member of the executive committee and the public relations committee and is editor of the chapter newsletter. Myron is active in the chapter and was involved with the Metals Committee of the Institute of Scrap Iron and Steel, an ReMA Predecessor Organization. Henry serves as treasurer of a related group, the Georgia Association of Scrap Processors.

"A lot of our knowledge comes from ReMA meetings and seminars," Evan states. "By sharing experiences with other processors and consumers, you learn more at board meetings--and outside of meetings--than you'd ever realize. I cannot underscore enough the value of ISRI."

Get in Touch

If there is an underlying philosophy to Macon Iron & Paper Stock Co.'s public relations push, it's that relationships are key. "We let people know we're here and can capably serve their recycling needs," Evan explains. "We stay in touch with local officials and citizens; we volunteer our help and advice; we keep up-to-date on the issues." The firm has come a long way in its promotional efforts since its first ad appeared in the September 28, 1919, edition of the Macon Telegraph and News.