March/April 2013
ISRI’s convention promises a memorable, magical mix of networking, learning, socializing, and expo shopping at a new venue in Orlando.
Listen up, Walt Disney World. Move over, SeaWorld. ISRI’s annual convention and exposition—Scrap World, if you will—is coming to town April 9-13, bringing its own excitement and enticements. The ReMA convention is an irresistible attraction to recycling professionals from around the globe thanks to its networking opportunities, educational workshops, economic and commodity market spotlights, social functions, and the largest scrap recycling industry exposition in the world. This year, ReMA returns to Orlando after 10 years away, making the Orange County Convention Center its home for the first time. There, attendees will enjoy all the features they’ve come to expect from the ReMA convention, with a few extras—even a little magic—this year as well. Here’s what’s in store.
A Primo Location
A key selling point of the ReMA convention is always its sunny locale. Orlando, this year’s host city, offers both sun and fun. Though the ReMA show will keep attendees plenty busy, Orlando offers an astounding list of attractions, from world-renowned theme parks such as Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal Studios Florida to lower-profile—but also alluring—experiences such as the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Orlando Odditorium, Gatorland, Sleuths Mystery Dinner Shows, and the Orlando Science Center. Orlando also has vast recreational options—golf, tennis, airboat rides, swamp tours, fishing, and eco-tours, to name a few—not to mention a host of museums, parks, and gardens, many of which are free. If shopping, dining, or spa experiences are more to your taste, no problem—Orlando has a wealth of options in those categories as well.
To help convention attendees and their families explore the convention and all Orlando has to offer, ReMA is offering special family tickets for the last day of the show and has negotiated steep discounts on hotel rooms and theme park tickets April 14-15, the two days following the ReMA gathering. (Visit www.isriconvention.org for details, or look for discount coupons in your ReMA convention tote bag.) Suffice it to say you’ll have no lack of things to do during the ReMA convention and beyond.
Speaking of ideal locations, the Orange County Convention Center—which bills itself as “The Center of Hospitality”—gives ReMA a spacious, sun-filled home for its exposition and most of its workshops. (The general sessions and larger commodity spotlights will be in the Hilton Orlando, adjacent to the convention center.) This year, the ReMA expo—a smorgasbord of recycling-related equipment, technology, products, and services—will fill 360,000 square feet in the center’s South building. That space will accommodate the show’s estimated 325 exhibitors, including roughly 73,000 square feet of oversized equipment displays—always a highlight of the ReMA show. The exhibition will open in grand style with a gala evening reception April 10, which will feature lavish food and beverage stations strategically located around the hall. This reception is not only a great way to wrap up the two days of ReMA governance meetings that precede the convention; it’s also a festive opportunity to reconnect with old friends and colleagues, make new ones, and start compiling a list of vendors to visit in the following days. After this kick-off, you’ll hardly be able to sleep thinking about everything you want to do, but rest up—the ReMA convention is just getting started.
Generally Speaking
Set your alarm for early the next morning, April 11, and don your political party colors to attend the convention’s first general session, a point/counterpoint discussion between former governors Haley Barbour (R-Miss.) and Edward Rendell (D-Pa.). Each served two terms as governor of his state and chaired the national committee of his political party. These two veteran politicians will debate today’s pressing political issues, with a focus on whether there’s any way to break through the federal political gridlock and partisan bickering. Be sure to grab a hearty buffet breakfast at the ReMA Café before the session.
ISRI gives you equally good reasons to greet the morning the following two days of the convention. The morning of April 12 features the popular spotlight on the economy; April 13 brings well-known newsman and author Tom Brokaw. The economic spotlight has been a fixture of the ReMA convention since its introduction in 2009 thanks to its expert speakers and invaluable insights on international economic trends. This year will be no different, so don’t miss this program, which could help you plan for the next boom or bust. Brokaw kicks off the final convention day with a presentation that draws from his decades of distinguished work as a broadcast journalist and, more recently, an essayist and bestselling author. His talk is sure to be as inspiring as it is informative. Later on April 13, the convention’s Just-for-Fun program track offers a speaker with a different inspirational story—Dara Torres. The first U.S. swimmer to compete in five Olympic games, Torres earned 12 Olympic medals and was the oldest swimmer to compete in any Olympics. As a world-class athlete, her amazing story is sure to offer food for thought and motivation to the rest of us mere mortals.
Notably, this year ReMA will offer simultaneous translation of the general sessions and selected additional workshops into Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Portuguese.
Mastering the Markets
Scrap recyclers sleep, eat, and breathe commodity market information because their business success depends on how informed they are about current prices and trends. No wonder, then, that ReMA devotes a large part of its convention programming to commodity-specific sessions, offering something for recyclers of every material. The perennial-favorite commodity spotlights will offer market perspectives from leading experts on aluminum, copper, electronics, nickel/stainless, paper, plastics, and tires/rubber. These events—many of which end up being standing-room only—can give your company the market intelligence it needs to gain a competitive edge.
Electronics, paper, plastics, and tires/rubber have additional workshops dedicated to them, giving recyclers in these niches their own tracks to follow throughout the convention. Paper, for instance, has a session on the old newsprint market, which has suffered due to challenges from smartphones, tablets, e-readers, and online media. The specifications committee of ISRI’s Paper Stock Industries Chapter will meet April 11, with the chapter holding a general meeting immediately afterward that features a presentation on safety issues specific to paper recyclers. For plastics, additional sessions address recycling basics, identification techniques and processes, recovering plastics from construction and demolition debris, and quality and contamination concerns, outlining what makes a good bale of recovered plastics. The three additional tire/rubber recycling sessions, meanwhile, review the latest in the rubberized asphalt market, fire safety best practices in tire processing operations, and the growth—and market repercussions—of U.S. scrap tire exports.
Electronics recycling has the most extensive commodity-specific track, with six workshops and an electronics spotlight. This track begins April 10 with two half-day educational sessions that require separate registration. The first, on electronics recycling fundamentals, features five speakers who will provide an industry overview and address topics such as reuse/repair/refurbishment, material processing/shredding, responsible recycling practices, and how to get started in the business. The second half-day educational workshop delves into responsible recycling, providing a primer on the combination of Responsible Recycling (R2) practices with ISRI’s Recycling Industry Operating Standard for R2/RIOS certification, with advice on how to prepare for certification and a review of the auditing process from a third-party certification registrar.
The electronics recycling programming continues for two more days, April 11-12, with the three workshops on the first day and two on the second day packaged as the ReMA Electronics Recycling Summit. The kick-off session offers a welcome as well as presentations on recovering precious metals from end-of-life-electronics and highlights of a report on the e-scrap export market by the U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington, D.C.). The electronic spotlight follows that workshop: A panel of four venture capitalists will offer their perspectives on the e-recycling industry, with a focus on merger and acquisition activity in the sector and why investors are interested in this recycling market. Later that afternoon, another session reviews how e-recyclers can handle problematic materials such as batteries, mercury-containing devices, and cathode-ray tube glass. April 12’s electronics track begins with an international focus, with a look at the electronics recycling regulations and industry structures in Brazil, China, and India. The track’s final session describes how to get the most value out of retired electronics through reuse, hydrometallurgical precious metal refining, and recycling e-scrap plastics.
Along the commodity theme, the convention offers a session on hedging and several on metals identification. Individual metals-ID sessions address aluminum, copper, nickel/stainless, and metal-analysis technology and products. These programs offer take-home knowledge to help recyclers upgrade their scrap and, in turn, receive higher prices and fewer quality-related complaints or rejections.
Operating and Managing a Scrap Business
Beyond the commodity-focused programs, the ReMA convention offers more than two dozen additional workshops that provide intelligence on operations and management, international trends, and business succession or sale.
Safety is a key element of the operations workshops, with one session examining how to identify potentially radioactive sources in the scrap stream and protect your operations from such threats. Another looks at transportation safety, covering U.S. Department of Transportation compliance issues and reviewing how to investigate a vehicle accident. ReMA will debut its Transportation Safety Awards at the April 13 general session, recognizing the safest drivers and fleets in the scrap industry and naming one person Safe Driver of the Year.
The materials theft issue also gets major attention at this year’s convention with two training-focused sessions. The first workshop, designed for Florida law-enforcement officials, will review Florida laws regarding materials-theft issues and give the officials and scrap recyclers a shared understanding of this vexing problem. The second session is a train-the-trainer program for scrap recyclers that will teach attendees how to coordinate materials-theft outreach efforts to law-enforcement officials in their respective states.
Managing people is another essential component of operating a recycling business, so ReMA is devoting several workshops to the human- resource theme, including a legal review of personnel issues, a how-to on preventing and detecting workplace fraud and employee theft, and a discussion of the three circles of management, which examines the effect of different management styles on employee performance.
Of course, no operations track would be complete without a look at regulatory issues that affect scrap recycling facilities. What recyclers don’t know in the regulatory realm can hurt them. Fortunately, one workshop addresses that very topic, helping recyclers fill in the gaps of their regulatory knowledge. Another session will bring attendees up to date on the latest issues in stormwater compliance. Two other workshops address the RIOS certification program, offering a crash course in that recycling-specific management system standard and reviewing how it can help recycling operations meet their regulatory compliance obligations, among other benefits.
A well-known Disney song observes “It’s a Small World After All,” which definitely is true for today’s scrap industry. The growing presence of international recycling conglomerates and the growing international scrap trade are connecting and shrinking the world in unprecedented ways. ReMA knows it’s a full-time job trying to keep up with the shifting dynamics in the global market, so several convention workshops address international topics. One session provides a glimpse of emerging markets, making stops in India, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Turkey. Other workshops review the renewal process for China’s AQSIQ licensing regime and examine the problem of scrap thefts from export containers, with tips on how to thwart would-be thieves. Another session offers ideas for increasing scrap export profits, focusing in part on a potentially lucrative tax incentive for privately held recycling companies that export more than $3 million of scrap annually. Once again ReMA is working with the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (Beijing) to have a U.S.-China scrap trade consult meeting at the convention, giving scrap exporters an opportunity to hear statistical reports on the Chinese scrap market and network with Chinese association and government officials as well as scrap consumers.
The location of this year’s ReMA convention could prompt some recyclers to consider their retirement plans. A fulfilling retirement doesn’t just happen, though; it takes planning. That’s why ReMA is offering a trio of workshops this year on selling a scrap business, with the first reviewing how to determine the value of a recycling enterprise, the second examining succession and ownership transitions, and the third addressing how to prepare a business for sale. After attending those three sessions, you’ll be that much closer to having it made in the shade—or sun, whichever you prefer.
The business and management workshops also include a tax-focused session that will examine the state manufacturing sales tax exemption, the federal tax implications of the fiscal cliff deal, and other federal budget woes.
The Fun Factor
We all know what “all work and no play” will do to a person, so ReMA goes out of its way to include healthy doses of fun in its annual convention, including an aptly named Just-for-Fun program track for spouses, significant others, and anyone needing a break from the business-focused rigors of the ReMA show. Highlights of this track include a gathering at the Hilton Orlando pool April 11 and the Dara Torres general-session presentation April 13 (described on page 66).
Many conventiongoers consider walking through the ReMA expo hall the most fun part of the show—and it is, in a kid-in-a-candy-store way—but ReMA saves the best fun for last this year with a grand closing event at Universal Studios Florida. This event will begin with an over-the-top buffet dinner in the attraction’s CityWalk section, then it will take a magical turn, moving for dessert, cocktails, and untold fun to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. If you’ve ever wanted to immerse yourself in the fantastical world of the bestselling Harry Potter books, here’s your chance. The Wizarding World, part of Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park, recreates the books’ events, characters, and locations, allowing you to walk the streets of Hogsmeade, interact with a scale model of the Hogwarts Express train, taste butterbeer, and explore Potter-related shops. The more adventurous attendees can experience the thrills of the park’s rides, including the Dragon Challenge dual roller coaster, Flight of the Hippogriff family ride, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey experience, which offers a simulated flying tour of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, complete with animatronic versions of everything from dementors and giant spiders to a Quidditch match. This evening, which gives ReMA attendees exclusive use of the Wizarding World, is sure to get you wondering how ReMA possibly can top it next year, when its convention returns to the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Joining in the Fun
How can you partake in all of the above? First, you need to register (if you haven’t done so already). ReMA members and their guests can become full registrants for $975 each, while nonmembers must pay $1,500. (The early-bird discount deadlines have passed, and all registrations received after March 13 are treated as on-site registrations.) New this year, full registrants also can buy special family tickets to give additional family members full access to the programs and events on April 13, the convention’s final day, which include the Tom Brokaw general session, the Dara Torres program, and the closing party at Universal Studios. For adults, the tickets are $250; for children ages 2 to 12, tickets are $200. (Be sure to check Universal Studios Florida’s website for the height restrictions on specific park attractions.) ReMA also offers tradeshow-only passes for access solely on April 11-12, the two full days of the ReMA expo. ReMA members and their guests can purchase such passes for $550; nonmembers, $800.
You have three ways to register for the ReMA convention:
--Online at www.isriconvention.org.
--By mail—fill out a registration form (available online or in the mailed ReMA convention brochure) and send it with full payment or credit card information to ReMA Convention, 1615 L St. NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036-5664.
--By fax—send your completed registration form with credit card payment information to 202/624-9257.
ISRI tries to send confirmations within two to four weeks of its receipt of properly completed registrations. Contact ReMA if you do not receive a confirmation by then.
Second, make your lodging reservations. ISRI’s three main convention hotel properties—the Hilton Orlando, Rosen Centre Hotel, and Rosen Plaza Hotel—were sold out or had limited availability at press time. Cancellations do occur, so contact those properties regularly to ask about available space; otherwise, contact your travel agent or visit www.visitorlando.com, the website of the Orlando Tourism Bureau, and other hotel websites for additional options in the area.
Then make your travel arrangements, and you should be all set to attend the ReMA convention in Orlando. Whether you’re walking the aisles of the ReMA expo, absorbing information at a spotlight or workshop, expanding your business contacts, or boarding a ride at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, get ready—it’s going to be a fun, exciting, memorable ride.
For the latest schedule information, an interactive look at the exposition floor, and other convention news, visit www.isriconvention.org.
To the Highest Bidder Go the Spoils
How would you like a three-night escape to scenic Vancouver, British Columbia, or three nights at the Mirage in Las Vegas? Or how about two near-front-row tickets to see the Dallas Mavericks and a locker-room tour? Or maybe you’d prefer to own a signed copy of the pilot script and poster from Revolution, the hit NBC TV series? Those are just three of the enticing items available in the Recycling Research Foundation’s silent auction at this year’s ReMA convention. This popular event raises funds for RRF research projects, scholarships through certain ReMA chapters, and—new this year—scholarships for U.S. military veterans. The auction, held in the ReMA expo hall, begins during the opening gala reception the evening of April 10 and closes the afternoon of April 12. So get your bids in early and check back regularly to make sure you aren’t outbid. In addition to the items noted above, this year’s auction includes several artworks (some made of scrap materials), a handcrafted quilt, a Vera Bradley luggage set, a Taylor Magnet chain, a Roll-Rite truck tarp system, an antique bronze bell, a $25,000 credit toward a North American market research study by Brady Recycling—SAI, and full-page ads in industry trade publications (including Scrap). RRF will continue accepting auction items until the start of the convention. To donate, contact Tom Crane, 202/662-8536 or tomcrane@isri.org
A Nod to Our Sponsors
Many of the most memorable, enjoyable aspects of the ReMA convention exist thanks only to the generosity of sponsoring companies. ReMA thanks the following sponsors for their support, which makes its annual convention and exposition the world-class event attendees expect and appreciate.
Al-jon Manufacturing: Pocket schedule and ferrous hospitality area
America Metal Export: Tote bag insert
Caterpillar: Chair-elect general session
CNA Metals: Exhibitor locator boards
Coca-Cola Recycling: Lanyards
Harris: Convention program
K2 Castings: Tote bag insert
LBX Co.: Tote bag insert
Potomac Cos.: Tote bag insert
RecycleGuard: Opening general session
Royce Corp.: ISRI Café
Sennebogen: Highlighter pen
Sierra International Machinery: Hotel keys