ISRI members had a busy day of meetings Tuesday in accordance with ISRI’s virtual winter meeting. The meetings began last Thursday with a series of committee meetings and the opening Board meeting taking place on Monday. The meetings are open and free to attend to all ISRI members and run through this Friday. Tuesday covered each of ISRI’s commodity divisions, along with the Shredders Committee.
Here is a roundup from the day:
- During the Shredders Committee meeting, members shared preliminary results from a shredder safety survey. A report on the findings will be available to members within the next few months. Billy Johnson, ISRI’s chief lobbyist, and David Wagger, ISRI’s chief scientist and director of environmental management, weighed in on potential regulatory developments shredder operators may expect with the incoming administration.
- The Ferrous Division meeting included an economic outlook from Joe Pickard, ISRI’s chief economist and director of commodities, and an update on shipping issues and opportunities from Johnson. The Auto Recycling Subcommittee provided an update on an odometer disclosure rule that affects automotive recyclers and announced the formation of a catalytic converter theft working group.
- Nonferrous Division members discussed new and revised specifications for certain nonferrous scrap grades that they are working to finalize and hope to adopt during ISRI’s April meeting. Adina Renee Adler, ISRI’s vice president of advocacy, shared what ISRI knows about and is doing to address the ongoing container shortage. She also talked about recent developments in nonferrous trade with China. Pickard provided a brief nonferrous market update.
- MRF Committee members heard a presentation from researchers at the REMADE Institute on a project they are currently working on, which is intended to identify opportunities and barriers for increasing the U.S. paper recycling rate. ISRI Senior Economist Bret Biggers gave an update on the paper recyclability protocol ISRI is developing. The Paper Stock Institute Specifications Committee shared some specification revisions it is working on. Adler discussed some recent international developments with the Basel Convention and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Finally, Danielle Waterfield, ISRI’s chief policy officer and assistant general counsel, and Justin Short, ISRI’s manager of government relations, provided an update on state legislation relevant to MRFs, particularly on laws proposing extended producer responsibility for packaging.
- During the Paper Division meeting, subcommittee members working on the paper recyclability protocol shared more details on that project. As in the MRF Committee meeting, PSI Specification Committee members discussed proposed paper updates to the Scrap Specifications Circular. Adler provided paper-related trade updates. Waterfield and Short again weighed in on paper-specific EPR laws being discussed at the state level.
- The Plastics Division meeting began by welcoming several new members. New Jersey members and Waterfield discussed very recent developments with proposed legislation in New Jersey and Washington that could create a demand pull for recycled plastic. Adler talked about a Basel Convention guidance document that ISRI will shortly release to members about the Convention’s new plastic policy. Finally, Biggers drew attention to ISRI’s new Plastic Resin Identification Guide.
Look for additional information on these topics and other developments from the Winter Meetings in upcoming stories in Scrap News.
