From thought-provoking educational sessions and networking opportunities, to engaging speakers and a new pavilion dedicated to safety; ReMA2025 – The Show has a lot to offer the recycled materials industry.
There will be so many events, activities, and educational sessions to explore, so ReMA News had a chance to sit down with ReMA Convention Chair Andy Cohen to discuss what attendees can look forward to at ReMA2025 – The Show.
What’s new this year at ReMA2025?
This year, for the first time, we’re presenting the Safety-First Plaza. It’s part of the exhibit show floor, but it will be just outside the convention. There will be 15-20 booths related to safety such as workplace safety, highway safety, trucking safety, equipment safety, etc. We want members and other recyclers to experience the importance of safety and interact with the people involved in making the rules and regulations we abide by to stay safe. We’ve teamed up with the San Diego Fire Department and they’ll be doing live battery fire demonstrations and hazmat demonstrations.
The exhibit hall will encompass the whole convention center. In years past, the hall was kept to the show floor. Now it’s going to be everywhere—we’ll have Live at ReMA2025, showcasing technology and innovation demonstrations along with podcasts in the foyer of the convention hall.
Can you tell me about some of the educational sessions?
The educational sessions are slightly different this year. The speakers are experts in their topics—they live, breathe, study, and present in their specialized areas. The sessions will provide value and lessons that attendees can take back to their operations.
The ReMA2025 schedule is full of sessions catered to the challenges and opportunities facing recyclers. Experts will share insights and stories from the frontlines including trade, the economy, and manufacturing. These are the people you need to talk to and listen to if you face current challenges within the industry. We’re finding that you can’t keep doing what you did last year—the challenges are forcing everyone to change, adjust, reinvent, and create new opportunities and that’s what these sessions will help you do.
Our keynote speaker, Jesse Cole from Savannah Bananas, created a business that helps disrupted baseball. The sport was facing headwinds and challenges from operating the same way year after year. Cole wanted to change and innovate—if your customers are happy and you’re building up your employees, then your business will do better. That’s the message he’s going to share with attendees.
ReMA2025 will help you learn and build connections that will help you be better in the future. You can’t afford not to be there.
What are you most excited for at ReMA2025?
We’ve been talking about this convention for a year and a half and it’s finally within sight. I’m excited for attendees to get to San Diego and be in the Gaslamp district and see how ReMA2025 – The Show, the recycled materials industry, and our members will take over the town.
At the end of the week, I’m looking forward to walking through the airport terminals and hearing attendees talk about their experiences and that they’re excited to get back to their operations and implement some of the lessons learned. That’s the goal of the convention—we want people to feel that this was the best recycling event, and they can’t wait to come back next year.
Photo Courtesy of Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
