BIR offers new tool to promote the recycling industry

BIR has developed a short video about the importance of the recycling industry at global level. The new video explains, in a simple and timely manner, the contribution of the recycling industry to the global economy, the protection of environment and development of sustainable solutions. The video also puts forward the issue of free and fair trade of recycled materials.

The video will be made available on the homepage of BIR (www.bir.org) on the 8^th October. The purpose of creating this video is to help BIR and its members to raise awareness around the importance and the needs of the recycling industry. BIR will be promoting the video to relevant stakeholders and media within the coming days (see bottom of this page).

We think the video is a good tool for BIR members  to explain to local audiences, including policymakers and community opinion-leaders, that they are part of a global business with significant contributions to the economy and environment.

Promotion

We would like to suggest a few ideas on how you can help spread the word about this video and raise awareness around the benefits of our industry.

Placing the video on your website

This is a general video about the recycling industry without any particular focus on a specific sector (e.g. ferrous, non-ferrous, textiles, etc). It provides some overarching key messages for the recycling industry; therefore it could be placed on the homepage of any member of the BIR. It can provide a general introduction to any new or returning visitor of your webpage and will underline the importance of our business. Please find hereafter the links where you can download the video in different formats in order to place it to your website (you may need to right click on the link to the desired format and choose "Save as" in order to download the video and prevent your browser from displaying it automatically).

• Recycling video (MP4 format) recommended for Internet Explorer 9 and above
• Recycling video (WEBM format) recommended for Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari
• Recycling video (OGG/Theora format) recommended for older versions of Firefox and Opera
• Recycling video (FLV format) recommended for older browsers with Adobe Flash pluging

Using social media

Some of the BIR members are also present on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube etc. Reaching out to online peers interested in recycling would help a lot in getting the recycling messages across to various stakeholders (usually stakeholders who are   already interconnected with your channels e.g. followers on Twitter). We would like to provide you with some suggestions on potential social media content that you can, of course, localise or even translate. In any social media communication, it is important to use some hashtags that will help you become more visible and attract new users as well as drive more traffic to your website. Here are some of our suggestions for Twitter (can also be used for Facebook):

• Did you know? Today, new products can consist of entirely recycled content. Find out more in this new video www.bir.org  
• Every year the recycling industry handles more than 600 million tons of material! More info on this video www.bir.org  
• The CO2 emissions saved by the recycling industry are equivalent to the volumes emitted by aviation worldwide.Video: www.bir.org
• To keep recycling growing we need free and fair trade worldwide. Check out more in this new video: www.bir.org
• Recycling is the world's #future leading raw material supplier. Find out why in this new video.

Speaking Opportunities

You may have opportunities to present BIR and the topic of recycling at local, state, or regional meetings or hearings, or to service clubs and other community organizations, or in schools. The video could make a compelling “show-and-tell” piece as part of your presentations or remarks.

We hope that you find this new tool useful and would be grateful if you could let us know how and where you used it to highlight the role of recycling and of BIR.