This highlight article focuses on four sessions from ISRI2021: Environmental Justice: What Is It and Why Is It Important with Presentation of the Youth Recycling Awareness Award; Copper Spotlight: Forecasts and Risk Factors for the Red Metal; Company Culture; and Trade in 2021 and Beyond: The Biden Administration’s Policy for Jobs, Economic Recovery and Circular Economy. Many of the programs available in ISRI2021 will remain available to convention registrants through May 20 on demand. The exhibit hall will remain open during that time as well.
ISRI2021 was a blast! We covered a ton of topics impacting the industry over the course of six days. We also had live demonstrations, an interactive virtual exhibit hall, and maybe most importantly, a puppy cam! Here are some highlights from the final day of the virtual convention.
Environmental Justice: What Is It and Why Is It Important with Presentation of the Youth Recycling Awareness Award
Matthew S. Tejada, Ph.D., director of the Office of Environmental Justice at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), joined ISRI president Robin Wiener and Dan Garvin, president of Colorado Iron & Metal, Inc., and ISRI’s Young Executive of the Year, to discuss topics surrounding environmental justice, including the history of the environmental justice movement in the U.S., what the Office of Environmental Justice is doing to address the subject, and how the recycling industry can connect with their local communities on environmental justice issues. An in-depth article on this session will be available on Scrap News, Monday, May 3.
Youth Recycling Awareness Award Presentation
Winners of the nationwide 2021 Youth Recycling Awareness Award were acknowledged on the final day of the convention. Fifth-grader Irene Park from Fairburn Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles is the 2021 poster grand prize winner. Sophomores Nadia Islam, Ada Johnsen-DeWeese, and Rosemarie Alubankudi, who attend Life Sciences Secondary School in New York City, are the 2021 video grand prize winners. Irene’s poster demonstrates how more classroom recyclables can be processed properly, ensuring the valuable commodities do not go to landfills. The winning video demonstrates how recycling is essential to local communities from the perspective of a cardboard box mistakenly placed in the trash. The video explains the importance of proper education so that communities recognize valuable recyclables.
Copper Spotlight: Forecasts and Risk Factors for the Red Metal
Copper prices outperformed all the other major base metals in 2020. Forecasters are projecting continued price gains into 2021. But significant risk factors still remain including continued uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic; financial market-jitters; the outlook for China; and the availability of copper scrap. Chris Lewon, vice president at Utah Metal Works Inc., and a past ISRI leader, moderated the discussion. Other presenters included Daniel Fischer, vice president of Kataman Metals, and Jason Schenker, president of Prestige Economics LLC. An in-depth article on this session will be available on Scrap News on Monday, May 3.
Company Culture
Rarely can organizational change occur without changing culture. Craig Boswell, co-founder and president of HOBI International, Inc., Tony Smith, ISRI’s vice president of safety, and Jean Francois, head of partnerships at Ingram Micro Commerce and Lifecycle Services, discussed transforming a company’s culture from a workplace perspective, a safety perspective, and a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) perspective. Read the Scrap News full-length article on this session here.
Trade in 2021 and Beyond: The Biden Administration’s Policy for Jobs, Economic Recovery and Circular Economy
As a high priority for his administration, U.S. President Joe Biden views trade as a cornerstone for addressing a range of economic and environmental issues. To get a sense of how that may impact the recycling industry, Adina Renee Adler, ISRI’s vice president of advocacy, explained U.S. trade policies, the response from congressional leaders, and ISRI’s advocacy role at ISRI2021. Read the Scrap News full-length article on this session here.
Thank you for helping make ISRI2021 a great success! Don’t forget to plan ahead for ISRI2022. Next year’s convention and exhibition is scheduled for March 21-24, 2022, in Las Vegas. Look for details in the coming months.
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