March/April 1992
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries wouldn't exist without its 1,800 member firms—and it couldn't serve those firms without the help of its volunteer leaders and staff. Here's how the association puts it all together.
Paul Green is assistant executive director of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (Washington, D.C.).
If you wanted to cook up an organization similar to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), you'd need to follow a recipe like this one:
a pinch of incoming telephone calls— 300 or so daily
a dash of outgoing phone calls—anywhere from 300 to 500 a day, depending on the time of year
a sprinkling incoming mail—on a typical Monday, more than 500 pieces
outgoing mail, to taste—between 500 and 5,000 pieces per week
a smidgen of UPS packages—about 50 every day
Combine all ingredients, blending in an assortment of programs and activities. Fold in approximately 40 employees, then dish into Washington, D.C., offices. Flavor with volunteer leaders.
Serves 1,800.
This recipe, of course is merely a glimpse of what it takes to operate a complex organization serving 1,800 member companies. In fact, to detail all of ReMA's inner workings this way would require a constantly updated, multivolume cookbook designed for only the most experienced chefs. For the sake of brevity, therefore, here's a condensed look at how the association works.
Keeping Things Smooth
Although every department at ReMA is responsible for particular projects and programs, the executive office, working in close harmony with the association's elected president and other national officers, oversees the entire breadth of ReMA's activities. While its policy-making responsibilities are not easily described, the executive office manages a variety of measurable administrative functions that warrant explanation.
In the accounting area, the finance department tracks approximately 2,500 separate general ledger accounts and handles close to 50,000 financial transactions on a yearly basis. In addition, the department is responsible for preparing monthly financial statements that are critical to every staff member's ability to make timely management decisions and satisfy fiduciary requirements.
To meet growing member demands for information and provide more efficient support functions, ReMA recently installed a new computer system. Though an association data base specialist was employed to build a portion of the system, having in-house computer expertise has proven to be vital to the process—and to solving standard computer headaches. For example, when ReMA offered members an opportunity to be part of the association's group storm water runoff permit, our manager of information systems designed a special data base to track complex information about the facilities included in the permit application.
The new system, which consists of personal computers linked together on a local area network, handles a variety of data and word processing tasks throughout the organization. Since its installation in the fall of 1991, more than 400 million characters of information have been stored.
Nearly coinciding with installation of the new computer was another (we hope) infrequent activity: moving our headquarters. After seven months of looking for desirable space and negotiating the details, the association relocated in late November to an office that enabled us to consolidate operations on a single floor (we had been on three floors) for greater efficiency. Although the move was not a long distance one, it still required staff to pack more than 1,000 boxes that, along with furniture and other items, filled 30 truck loads.
It All Adds Up
When members visit ReMA headquarters they often note amazement at seeing how much work goes into activities they normally see only as finished projects. While a final product might take only a few minutes to skim through, many of the programs members benefit from represent hundreds of hours of staff, member, and vendor time.
As an example, what do you think it took to produce a new 10-minute videotape that outlines the basics of the scrap recycling industry? Only the following: public relations committee discussions on the scope of the project, locating and interviewing production companies to find the best match, development of a script that would reflect the most important aspects of the industry (the script went through four drafts), a full day of location shooting, numerous days of editing the various sequences, a day of narration work, a day of final editing, and more.
How about this assignment: Throw a party for 3,000 people. Oh yeah, you not only have to feed and entertain your guests, but you also need to house them and supply educational information—for four full days. The staff and members who organize the association's annual convention and exposition take on all of these responsibilities, and just like those who put together the Rose Bowl Parade, they begin working on the following year's outing the day after the convention program ends.
A year might seem like a long time to plan an event, but making this nearly magical activity become a reality, requires a lot of decisions. Consider this abbreviated list: developing a theme, determining the types and quantities of educational and social programs, recruiting workshop speakers, marketing exhibit space, writing and producing brochures, negotiating with big-name entertainers, planning special sessions, writing speeches, selecting food choices, designing the exhibit hall, encouraging members to attend, coordinating logistics with a variety of hotels, entering registration information into the computer, and answering thousands of questions over the telephone.
So remember, as you make you way home from San Francisco , work has already begun on next year's convention, to be held in Orlando in March 1993.
Representing Industry's Interests
These days, it doesn't seem necessary to elaborate at great length about the association's critical work on reauthorization of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and myriad other legislative and regulatory issues affecting the scrap recycling industry. Because these topics are so hot, members receive timely updates on what is transpiring on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures through the ISRI Report and special mailings.
As part of its federal legislative efforts, ReMA regularly works with various congressional committees examining issues of interest to the scrap industry, providing first-hand testimony or written comments, depending on the committee's request. When ReMA's president or executive director is invited to appear before a congressional panel, he's usually allowed only five to seven minutes in which to make a formal presentation that clearly states the association's position. Therefore, a lot of concentrated work must go into making those five minutes as strong as possible: intensive discussions among the executive director, volunteer leadership, and government affairs staff about the nature of the testimony; thorough and accurate research on the particular topic; drafting and redrafting the testimony until it's finalized, cleanly formatted, and readied for handout at the hearing; and, last but not least, rehearsing the presentation and attempting to anticipate questions that might arise from the testimony.
If the invitation to testify at hearing or comment on a proposal comes at the last minute—as it often does—or if a number of invitations are extended at once, the lights at ReMA burn late into the night so that intelligent and thoughtful comments can be presented. During a one-week period last year, ReMA representatives made three appearances in front of congressional committees on three separate subject areas.
Building a Magazine
As you read this article, other features, and the more than 200 advertisements in this issue, you might not realize the effort undertaken to produce and distribute Scrap Processing and Recycling. Development of this issue—and the other five issues of 1992—began back in June during a meeting of magazine staff and contributing editors (ISRI staff with expertise in specific areas), where story ideas for the coming year were discussed.
Once the publisher and editor have selected the topics to explore and decide when to publish particular articles, authors—sometimes professional writers, but usually industry members who are willing to share their expertise—are sought and advertisers are notified of the content scheduled for each bimonthly issue. Approximately four months before a particular issue is mailed, more intensive work on the issue begins, including concentrated marketing to potential advertisers; manuscript writing and editing; conceptualizing art and finalizing layouts; updating subscription lists; and coordinating the whole thing with a Midwest printer.
Only a Taste
These examples should give you a flavor of the efforts that go into work accomplished on behalf of ReMA members and the industry. Countless other endeavors, in such areas as membership services, commodities research, seminars, other publications, safety programs and other government affairs issues, and state legislative activities, play equally important roles in the organization. ReMA is a dynamic association, which, through the combined efforts of dedicated volunteers and staff, works to provide quality programs and activities for member firms. We hope it pays off. We also have another wish: that the next time you receive information from ReMA or call for answers to a specific question, you'll be able to better visualize how it was all whipped up. •
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries wouldn't exist without its 1,800 member firms—and it couldn't serve those firms without the help of its volunteer leaders and staff. Here's how the association puts it all together.