Paper or plastic? Recycling Today prepares for its annual Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show and inaugural plastics recycling conference

Recycling Today, May, 2006 by Jackie Gubeno, Deanne Toto

Recyclers and consumers of scrap paper will once again descend on the Windy City in late June for the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade show. This year, however, they will be joined by attendees of a new conference that addresses the issues facing recyclers and consumers of scrap plastics with the launch of Recycling Today's Plastics Recycling Conference & Trade Show.

The co-located conferences, organized by the Recycling Today Media Group Division of GIE Media Inc., Cleveland, will be June 25-27, 2006, at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago. With many recyclers handling both paper and plastics, conference attendees have the option of attending sessions from both show's educational tracks for an additional registration fee of $55.

PAPER TIGERS. Last year, the 2005 Paper Recycling Conference in Atlanta attracted more than 500 industry professionals from around the world. The 2006 Paper Recycling Conference will include the latest equipment and service offerings in the exhibit hall and numerous networking opportunities.

The conference's organizers strive to develop programming that reflects the interests of attendees from all facets of the paper industry, including paper stock dealers, consumers, mill representatives, recyclers and equipment and service providers.

This year's programming includes sessions on over-coming quality concerns, uncovering new sources of supply, navigating export markets and dealing with higher transportation costs.

Bill Moore of Moore & Associates, Atlanta, will moderate the keynote session Monday, June 26, titled "Recycling in a Smaller World." R.S. Baxi of J&H Sales (International) Ltd., Shawn Lavin of Waste Management/Recycle America and Steve Voorhees of Rock-Tenn will offer their views on the present state of the paper recycling industry and their predictions as to where the industry is headed in the future.

The closing session Tuesday, June 27, will bring together Joe Albrycht, Mississippi River Corp.; Marty Rusk, Corrugated Services; and Lisa White, SP Newsprint, for a roundtable discussion from the mill buyers' perspective. Rusty Getter of Balcones Resources, Austin, Texas, will serve as moderator for this interactive session.

A session titled "Avoiding Transportation Rage" will shed light on some of the transportation issues facing recyclers today, such as California's Pier Pass program. Panelists will include Scott Horne, general counsel for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. and Michael McInerney of Celtic Logistics.

Monday's "Staking Claims to New Supply Lines" includes panelists who will offer suggestions for digging deeper into the waste stream to divert more paper and OCC for recycling. Speakers include Ron Gonen of RecycleBank, a recycling incentive program that began in two Philadelphia communities and has garnered much national attention. The program not only offers incentives to residents who recycle, it also offers municipalities a wealth of detailed information on their residents' recycling habits.

Gonen will also address attendees of Recycling Today's Plastics Recycling Conference & Trade Show, offering additional details about the recovery of post-consumer plastics through the RecycleBank program.

In addition to the regular programming, attendees will have the opportunity to attend two pre-conference workshops. The first will address plant safety. The second, which requires a separate registration fee, is a two-hour pricing workshop presented by Bill Moore and Peter Engle of Moore & Associates.

Now in its sixth year the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show will be joined by a companion conference for the plastics recycling industry.

EXPANDING PLASTICS. Prices for secondary plastics have reached new highs in the last year, fueling increased interest in the material. Reflecting the growth of the plastics recycling market, the Recycling Today Media Group has introduced Recycling Today's Plastics Recycling Conference & Trade Show, which offers the same networking, session and exhibit opportunities as the paper conference, only geared to the specific needs and interests ofplastic brokers, traders, reclaimers and secondary consumers.

Running concurrently with the paper programming are six education sessions devoted specifically to plastics markets.

The keynote session, Tuesday, June 27, "A Global Outlook for Plastics Recycling," will feature Mike Biddle of MBA Polymers, Mark Matza of Fortune Plastic & Metal Midwest and Robert Render of Maine Plastics, who will field questions from moderator Brian Taylor, Recycling Today's editor, and session attendees in an interactive roundtable format.

Dennis Sabourin of NAPCOR will moderate Monday's session titled "Consuming Passions: A Look Recycled Resin Consuming Markets." The panel will feature secondary plastics consumers, including Jean Bina of Phoenix Technologies, Phil Cavin of Mohawk Industries and Ron Sherga of Sherresults LLC.

Sessions on municipal efforts to increase recycling rates for HDPE and PET and plastics derived from electronics will also be offered.