Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries

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In this age of reawakening society’s environmental consciousness, it is important for all industries to understand the impact of economic and environmental sustainability on the bottom line. But this is particularly the case for scrap recyclers, which is why one organization came to be, and is in line with movers and shakers—like former politician and author of An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore.  ABJ’s joined in conversation with Bruce Savage, vice-president of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc.

A Washington, D.C.-based trade association, ISRI represents nearly 1,600 private, for-profit companies operating at more than 7,000 facilities in the U.S. and 30 countries that process, broker, and industrially consume scrap commodities, including metals, paper, electronics, rubber, plastics, glass, and textiles. In addition, ISRI’s associate members include equipment and service providers to the scrap recycling industry. Manufacturers and sellers of equipment and services—like shredders, balers, cranes, cargo transporters and computer systems—find value in promoting the scrap recycling industry through their membership in ISRI.

Many ISRI-member companies are family-owned businesses, with a significant number of them having been in business for 100 years or longer. It is estimated that ISRI members employ more than 85,000 people and their companies range in size from small, one-location operations to large, publicly-held corporations with multiple facilities worldwide.  Whereas, others focus on the business of brokering and trading recyclable materials, or consolidating materials from a variety of businesses to expedite the fulfillment of consumer needs.

All member companies—large and small—have one thing in common: they all have the expertise and the ability to compete in today’s global marketplace. That’s where ISRI comes in; the association assists its member companies with a wide variety of products and services designed to help them run better, cleaner, safer, and more profitable operations. Advocacy, in part, is a large function of their role.

Antonia McGuire: Describe the aspect of the association’s history that has impacted its purpose and direction?

Bruce Savage: Last year, the industry processed over 150 million tones of materials, so my question is always, imagine what the world would be like without recycling? I think we’re starting to give people a very good idea of what role recycling plays in both an environmental and economic standpoint. Last year, we took 300 million tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. That’s a whole role that is being recognized.
 
From the business point of view, when you create a recycling program you’re employing a load of people. Whereas, if you were putting that material in a landfill you’d probably employ one person so, from an economic growth and community vitality standpoint it is a good thing. But it all comes back to this sustainability message. We have lots of materials that are coming to their end of lives, or becoming obsolete. Instead of putting them into landfills, let’s reprocess, repurpose and recycle those materials—taking the both the economic and environmental benefits from that to make life in America be more sustainable.

That’s a new area in the industry—beforehand it was typical to fly below the radar screen. In this day and age, I think there a real importance in letting people know what role we play, who we are and what we represent.

AM: You guys are located in Washington, DC—does that influence your role in advocacy and communications?

BS: That’s one of the reasons why we’re here: to interact with the regulators, government agencies or legislative bodies who have more and more involvement in these key areas. With global climate change and global economy, we play a role on the international scale. It makes sense for us to be here and it does taint your view on things because that’s what Washington is all about—the regulatory and legislative arenas. We consider that one of the key areas we need to focus on as an industry.

AM: Can you tell us more about this area of focus?

BS:  Generally, this is where things are happening in the regulatory arena, whether it be with DOT—the Department of Transportation—the EPA, and all those other acronyms that are so infamous in Washington. To be a part of that dialogue, we need to be here and be a part of that discussion on a day-to-day basis. Same thing for the legislative arena, there’s different committees—public works, senate environment committee—all these things that are being researched, materials generated and bills drafted. We need to be a part of that dialogue. We work with the political staff, researchers and the regulatory officials to make sure they understand the implications and impacts that these legislative approaches will have on our industry.

AM:  It sounds like you’re doing fascinating work—which piece of legislation is your group concerned about?

BS: We’re involved in many different issues from railroad transportation re-authoritization to just being a part of the global climate change dialogue that former vice-president Al Gore and Clinton initiated, which looks more seriously into recycling and has a more worldwide approach to sustainability.

AM: What is your group most proud of?

BS: The SURIA—SuperFun Recovery Act — and all the sites declared ‘SuperFun’ that require a recovery cleanup. We wanted to make sure the initiative didn’t hurt the industry and we were successful in that regard. At the same time, our job is to get people to take advantage of opportunities instead of focusing on the negative side of business marketplace.

AM: Key issues for your industry right now?

BS: I’d say it’s obviously the commodity prices that were at record-high levels as of 2008, and then suffered a precipitous drop followed by a global freeze—then there was increased demand and suddenly everything came to a grinding halt.

AM: Thanks for your time and congratulations on your successes.

www.isri.org

* Please note: this interview has been edited and condensed.