May/June 2010
Inviting public officials to tour their facilities yields many benefits—for their companies and the industry—and is a lot of fun to boot, recyclers say.
By Jim Fowler and Kent Kiser
Elected officials are constantly listening—to their colleagues, their staff, lobbyists and special interest groups, and especially their constituents. Day after day, they're inundated with people who are trying to press their point of view, convey concerns, or inform them about important issues through phone calls, e-mails, letters, and in-person meetings. One way to cut through all this information clutter is to show instead of tell by inviting elected officials to your scrapyard. It might be a long way from the lofty halls of Congress, the state capitol, or the city council chambers to the industrial environment of a scrap processing facility, but scrap operators who have hosted such visits say such tours have a wow factor that officials find hard to forget.
For proof of the impact of a scrapyard visit, just listen to Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), co-chair of the House Recycling Caucus, who toured Grossman Iron & Steel Co. (St. Louis) a couple of years ago. Before his visit, "I didn't realize how much material was recycled every day," he says. "Just to see the enormous stack of cars and piles of metal before they were sorted and shredded was amazing. I also grasped the concept of where this material goes after it is processed."
These officials are connecting the work of the scrap recycling industry with national and international issues. After Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), sponsor of 2009's "Cash for Clunkers" legislation, saw the "recycling process in action" at City Scrap & Salvage Co. (Akron, Ohio), she called the visit "very educational" in how it "highlighted how legislation can not only save and create jobs but also preserve the environment." Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) made similar connections after touring the I.H. Schlezinger yard in Columbus, Ohio. "It was difficult for me to grasp the enormity of the scrap recycling industry before I toured the operation," he says. The tour, he says, helped him "realize how vital the industry is to the economy. In these difficult economic times, I believe it will be industries such as scrap recycling that drive us to economic recovery." That's high praise, indeed—and important praise because it comes from those with the legislative power to affect the scrap business.
As scrap recyclers are learning, their longtime tradition of maintaining a low profile and keeping visitors out of their facilities no longer serves their best interests—and, in fact, it can be detrimental. Instead, some say, opening the gates and setting out the welcome mat to elected officials yields many benefits. "There's nothing more powerful than having [officials] in our facility to actually see what we do," asserts Joel Fogel, nonferrous manager for Cohen Brothers (Middletown, Ohio). "Any time you can get government officials—local, state, or federal—in your plant, it's something you want to pursue."
Opening the Door
Bringing public officials to the scrapyard can have three primary benefits: It exposes them to this little-known industry, demolishes longstanding misconceptions of what scrap recycling is all about, and helps build relationships that have long-term value. The first benefit is actually a great selling point, says Billy Johnson, ReMA's director of political and public affairs, who has spent the past five years helping ReMA members host facility tours. "Most people have never been to a scrap plant and will find it exciting and interesting." Or as Ed Johnson, chief executive officer of Atlantic Recycling Group (Baltimore), puts it, most elected officials "don't have a clue about what we're doing." Tours allow scrap operators to explain how what they do differs from curbside collection, the industry's for-profit nature, and how the scrap recycling process works.
The visits also help a company break through some long-held myths about the industry. "One of the surprises for politicians is to learn that recycling isn't a new issue," notes Atlantic's Johnson. Also, visitors often think scrap recycling is a municipal service or funded primarily through governments subsidies. "It's important that they see it and understand that it's a business," says Valerie Androutsopoulos of Vangel Paper (Baltimore). For Grossman Iron & Steel (St. Louis), "our goal was to differentiate ourselves from junkyards," says President and CEO Cap Grossman. The firm brought local officials to the facility before installing a new shredder to make sure the city saw the company in the proper light. As Ed Johnson puts it, "The whole message we're trying to get across is, this is not Sanford and Son."
Equally important, plant tours provide "a great opportunity to build relationships with elected leaders and show off the industry," Billy Johnson notes. "If [officials] don't understand what we do in the right context, they could pass laws that would make life difficult for everybody," explains Randy Katz, City Scrap's vice president and secretary. "They need to understand our business before there's a problem," Ed Johnson adds. "If they only hear from you when there's a problem, they will react differently to you [and] it isn't nearly as effective." Instead, says SA Recycling's George Adams, "If they've been to your facility, have spent time with you, and have a good feeling about your business, they will take your call or call you back when you contact them about an issue." Adams, president and CEO of the Anaheim, Calif.-based company and immediate past chair of ISRI, says his company has opened its doors to public officials hundreds of times over the past 30 years.
Extending the Offer
So you've decided to offer tours of your facility. What now? As a first step, you can extend an invitation by contacting your elected officials via phone, e-mail, or postal mail. Make it clear you are not only a constituent but also an employer in their district. Describe the benefits of the tour for them and the main issues you'd like to discuss during their visit. If you already have met the official or contributed to his or her campaign, play up that information. Be prepared to work with the official's staff to arrange the visit.
A previous connection to the elected leader can make it more likely he or she will respond to your offer. That's where ReMA can help. First, the association's government affairs staff can help arrange meetings, provide talking points, and even sit in on appointments. At the national level, the initial contact often takes place during ReMA's annual congressional fly-in, held in conjunction with the summer board meeting in Washington, D.C. During the fly-in, ReMA schedules meetings between members and their U.S. senators and representatives, and ReMA staffers accompany members on their Capitol Hill rounds. These meetings establish a foundation for future interactions, and it's a good idea to end them with an invitation to tour your facility, Johnson says.
Expect to follow up that initial invitation with reminders and subsequent invitations. "You have to stay at it," says Jeff Millhollin, vice president of operations for Pacific Steel & Recycling (Great Falls, Mont.). It took his firm three fly-in visits to get Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to tour its shredder near Boise, Idaho. "You have to show up year after year and keep asking." And don't be surprised if a member of the official's staff visits your operation first.
A special event—such as opening a new facility or marking a company anniversary—is another great hook for an invitation. Baker Iron & Metal Co. used the grand opening of its new plant in Lexington, Ky. to host Rep. Ben Chandler (D-Ky.), Lexington mayor Jim Newberry, and several state officials. Ocala Recycling (Ocala, Fla.)—the first scrap company certified to ReMA's Recycling Industry Operating Standard—informed its congressman, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), about its accomplishment, which "generated the interest in his office to schedule the visit," says Rich Bianculli, one of the firm's directors.
Preparation Makes Perfect
Persistence, patience, and the right pitch likely will get you on your elected officials' schedule. Now comes the next step—preparing for the tour. Your goal is to show your operation at its best, so plant housekeeping is important. SA Recycling takes pride in always keeping a clean yard, Adams says, "but when you know you have a guest official visiting, you go the extra mile. That's just common sense. You want to make your operation look as clean as possible."
A prudent second step is informing your staff about the upcoming visit. Grossman says he "told everyone Rep. Shimkus was coming to see us and informed certain company personnel that I wanted them to go along on the tour." If you plan to introduce the guest official to your employees, make sure they know what you expect them to say and do. When Ocala Recycling introduced Stearns to its staff, "everyone knew what they were to talk about and had practiced it," Bianculli says. "Each person had a few minutes to speak with the congressman, share with him what they do, and answer any questions he had." City Scrap introduced Sutton to many of its employees as well, and she asked them questions in turn. "They enjoyed the contact," Katz says. SA Recycling's Adams says he goes out of his way to introduce workers who have been with the firm a long time because "it reflects well on the company."
Ocala Recycling also prepared for its tour by inquiring about the congressman's interests and concerns "to see how the tour could benefit him," Bianculli says. "After all, the visit isn't just about us." City Scrap, for instance, knew that Rep. Sutton's leadership on the Cash for Clunkers issue made her especially interested in the automobile recycling process, so the firm devoted much of the tour toward that end. "Seeing the cars run through the shredder and getting a better understanding of how we process materials that come into the plant interested her the most," Katz says.
Also plan how you want to structure the visit. You could, for instance, start the tour with a sit-down office visit in which you describe your company's history and its current operations, including its number of employees, volumes handled, physical size, principal markets, and financial turnover (optional). Some recyclers show visitors aerial facility photos and images from yard security cameras to orient guests and give them a visual overview of the plant. You then could walk or drive your guests around your facility, explaining each operation as you go. "Sometimes I do driving tours," Grossman says, "because people don't want to walk or they only have 10 or 15 minutes." Baker Iron & Metal rented golf carts to whisk its guests around its new yard in Lexington in style. In terms of structuring the tours, many recyclers simply follow the flow of material, starting at the scale and ending at the shipping dock. "You work it through step by step, from unfinished product to finished product," Adams says.
On a safety note, make sure your guests wear the same personal protective equipment that your staff wears, such as a hard hat, safety eyewear, a reflective vest, closed-toe shoes (and no high heels), and ear protection in noisy operations. "We want our visitors to know that safety is a major priority for us and our employees," Ed Johnson says, "so we're very careful to keep them out of harm's way." Ocala Recycling added the extra touch of giving its visiting congressman a hard hat with his name on it.
Bianculli advises recyclers not to overwhelm visitors with too much information and to try to make the tour fun. One way to ensure a memorable experience is to give your guest some "hands-on" time on equipment. For instance, several recyclers have allowed visiting officials to sit in the operator's seat of their shredder and feed scrap into the machine.
Though you have no control over the weather, do your best to avoid scheduling your tours during inclement weather, whether it's rain, snow, or excessive cold or heat. George Adams says he doesn't like to hold tours in the rain or right after a rain. "The yard doesn't show well when it's wet," he says. "I go out of my way to make sure we don't have any mud puddles or standing water."
Talking the Talk
To get the most impact from a tour, connect the basics of what the facility does to the bigger picture of how the facility, company, and industry fit into the economy. Stress that your company creates jobs and pays taxes in the official's district, ReMA's Johnson says. "The economic value of what you represent is of critical importance," he says. By the end of the visit, the officials should understand how your company processes scrap into specification-grade commodities that other industries use to make new products. "What you do is good for other industries that have an even greater impact, such as the steel industry," Johnson notes. The scrap industry also helps the U.S. balance of trade by exporting material to more than 153 countries around the world, he adds. "Our industry has had a huge economic impact throughout the country," Ed Johnson says. "That's the message we try to get out."
Other issues the visit can address, depending on the elected official's committee assignments and interests, include materials theft, electronics recycling, transportation, and the industry's contributions to conserving natural resources, decreasing energy consumption, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. "You may also want to discuss various business challenges you face every day, such as capital requirements, loans, lines of credit, and city and state laws and regulations," ReMA's Johnson says.
When Ocala Recycling hosted Stearns, its directors discussed materials theft and ReMA's efforts to combat that problem, Bianculli says. "It's good to ask, 'What have you heard on this particular issue?' because it gives us an opportunity to provide our perspective," he says. In this case, Stearns might have heard about the materials theft problem from utilities that had been victims of theft, and the visit gave Ocala the opportunity to explain its procedures and cooperation with law enforcement "so he understood our side as well," Bianculli says. Ocala Recycling also used Stearns' visit to illustrate the industry's, and its own, professionalism. "The systems we use and the standards we work to are an eye-opener," Bianculli notes.
Along the same lines, Vangel Paper also uses its tours to show how "material has to move," Androutsopoulos says. "We don't have space to hold material." This can help public officials understand why tag-and-hold laws are impractical.
Johnson suggests ending the visit by taking photos and presenting the visitors with a token gift. A piece of scrap, for instance, makes a unique gift and is a great reminder of their scrapyard visit (not to mention a great conversation piece).
Though circumstances can vary, most tours take one to two hours. Be prepared to adapt your agenda based on cues from your guests. If they appear bored, preoccupied, or distracted, wrap things up sooner. If they're absorbed, take your time or even expand the tour. Many times, the visiting official is so fascinated by the scrap operations that he or she spends more time than expected at the plant. At City Scrap, Sutton "was totally at ease and wasn't trying to hurry through, spending about two hours here," Katz says.
After the visit, most recyclers follow up by thanking their guests, reinforcing their talking points, and strengthening their ties with the visiting officials. "We sent thank you notes and have personally seen both the congressman and mayor at other meetings since our grand opening tour," says Greg Dixon, general manager of Baker Iron & Metal. Ocala Recycling maintains a dialogue with Stearns' office. "We sent additional information on questions he had," Bianculli says. "We continue to work hard on our relationship—it's vital."
Reaping the Rewards
With the preparation, the bustle of the tour, and the follow-up, was it all worth it? The resounding answer is yes, recyclers say. "The feedback and positive energy that results when you open the doors and give people a chance to understand what you do--and impress them with how well you do it—is enormous," Cap Grossman says. Stearns' visit to Ocala Recycling "not only expanded his awareness of our industry, but it also was a nice morale booster for the company," Bianculli says. Both during and after their tours, many recyclers say their guests asked what assistance they can provide on materials theft and other important issues. Plant tours also help recyclers get over any jitters about interacting with public officials "It's easy to get a little nervous about giving tours," Fogel says, "but you realize in the end that they're just people from your community who are no different than anybody else."
What do the officials themselves think of the tours? "I guarantee that when they see your plant in operation, they will be wowed and have a great time," ReMA's Johnson says. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), for instance, visited two scrap operations in his district in one day, and he was so interested that he went back to both a second time. Tiberi says he couldn't get enough of the scrap processing equipment, adding that he "would have enjoyed watching the machines compact the metal together a little longer." Shimkus' visit to Grossman Iron & Steel impressed him so much that he encourages his colleagues to visit a scrapyard in their own districts. "They simply won't believe it until they see it themselves," he says.
"Tours make a difference because visitors have a completely different opinion of our business when they leave," George Adams says. "I encourage all ReMA members to do this." •
Jim Fowler is retired publisher and editorial director of Scrap. Kent Kiser is publisher and editor-in-chief of Scrap.
Inviting public officials to tour their facilities yields many benefits—for their companies and the industry—and is a lot of fun to boot, recyclers say.