BIR World Recycling Convention & Exhibition in Miami (1-4 June 2014)

Plastics Committee, Wednesday, 4 June 2014 at 14.30: Challenges and opportunities in plastic recycling worldwide and with a specific focus on the US market - High-profile panel of recycling professionals discuss current and future market trends, including plastics out of WEEE and end-of-life-vehicles.

Plastics recycling moves centre-stage at the upcoming BIR World Recycling Convention & Exhibition in Miami (2-4 June 2014). The BIR Plastics Committee will start off with the “Plenary Session” in its usual format, featuring 3 speakers, followed by a “Leading Expert Talk”.

The “Plenary Session”, will run from 14.30 to 15.30.

Speakers include:

• Ms Maite Quinn of Sims Metal Management is responsible for business development and marketing of plastics, paper and glass for Sims Municipal Recycling, a division of Sims Metal Management. Ms. Quinn has over 18 years of experience in recycling and marketing. Presently she is the Co- Vice Chair of the Plastic Division for ISRI, a Board Member of the Association of Post-Consumer Plastic Recyclers and the National Recycling Coalition.

• Ms. Tamsin Ettefagh of Envision Plastics, Vice President of Sales and Purchasing at Envision Plastics. Ms. Ettefagh has over 26 years of experience in recycling and plastics recycling in particular. As Vice President of Envision Plastics, the second largest HDPE Plastic Recycling company in North America, she is responsible for operational improvement, strategic planning and new business development.

• Mr. James Glauser, Senior Consultant of IHS a Colorado-based global information company and leading provider of market and economic information. Mr. Clauser is more specifically involved in the Chemical Economics Handbook Programme, which is the leading source of global chemical business analysis for over 300 industrial chemicals.

The “Leading Expert Talk”, will run from 15:30 onwards.

Panel participants include:

• John Standish, Technical Director of the Association of Postconsumer Plastics Recyclers, the national trade association representing companies who acquire, reprocess and sell the output of more than 90 percent of the post-consumer plastic processing capacity in North America.
• Bill Carteaux, President of SPE, the Plastics Industry Trade Association, which promotes growth in the $373 billion U.S. plastics industry. Representing nearly 900,000 American workers in the third largest U.S. manufacturing industry, SPI delivers advocacy, market research, industry promotion, and the fostering of business relationships and zero waste strategies
• Dawn Gaines, Sales Manager of Rock-Tenn, one of North America's leading producers of corrugated and consumer packaging and recycling solutions, with annualized net sales of approximately $10 billion. Rock-Tenn employs approximately 26,000 people and operates more than 245 facilities in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and China.
• Hamilton Wen, Director of the Plastic Division at Newport CH International, LLC,  an international trading company and one of the largest recycled material exporters in the United States focused on the purchasing and direct export sale of recycled paper, plastics and metals throughout the world, including China and other parts of Asia.
• Dr. Steve C.K.Wong, Executive President of China Scrap Plastics Association, Managing Director of Fukutomi Company Limited. Fukutomi Company Limited, headquartered in Hong Kong was founded in 1984 by Dr. Steve C.K. Wong. Fukutomi has grown into a conglomerate of 21 companies with warehouses and factories spreading over 16 countries in Europe, America, Australia, Asia and South Africa with “recycling of plastic scrap” now remains the core business of the company. Today, the company’s annual sales turnover exceeds 2 billion Hong Kong Dollars.