This highlight article focuses on three sessions from ISRI2021: Diversity in the Recycling Industry: Successes, Lessons Learned, and Ways to Improve with Presentation of the ISRI Young Executive of the Year Award; Nickel and Stainless Spotlight: Predicting the Unpredictable; and Youth Engagement: Educating Our Future on Recycling is Essential. If you would like to watch these sessions in their entirety, you can still register for ISRI2021 here.

Sessions on Day Four of ISRI2021 covered a range of topics. A multigenerational panel of experts in the industry discussed strategies to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. ISRI presented the Young Executive of the Year Award to Dan Garvin. From upcoming marketplace trends to finding the best ways to engage with youth and local communities to motivate future generations about recycling, panelists offered insight into subjects that will likely have an impact on the industry’s future.

Nickel and Stainless Spotlight: Predicting the Unpredictable

After a strong end to 2020 and start to 2021, there are as many questions as answers for stainless steel processors. This includes the future direction of nickel prices, the outlook for further industry consolidation in Europe and North America, and the rising market share of producers in China and Indonesia. Speakers Nidhi Turakhia, executive vice president at Allied Alloys, Markus Moll, managing director, SMR – Steel & Metals Market Research GmbH, and Alina Racu, market analyst at NORNICKEL, shared their expert views on what recyclers should expect for the market.

Youth Engagement: Educating Our Future on Recycling is Essential

One challenge facing the recycling industry is educating the public about the value of recycling. To that end, ISRI has partnered with JASON Learning, a nonprofit organization focused on STEM education, to develop a recycling education curriculum for K-12 students. Speakers Peter Van Houten, general manager at Bob’s Metals Inc., Brandi Harleaux, chief operations officer at South Post Oak Recycling Center, Lindsay Simpson, technology integration specialist at Genesee Valley Central School District, and Amy O’Neal from JASON Learning shared how ISRI and JASON Learning’s partnership is instrumental in educating students and teachers about recycling and how recyclers can impact their local communities.

Diversity in the Recycling Industry: Successes, Lessons Learned, and Ways to Improve 

Bringing together unique perspectives from people of diverse backgrounds is integral to any organization’s success. This is true for the recycling industry, comprised of many different individuals from around the world. However, there’s always room to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in any industry. That’s one major takeaway from this session moderated by Sandy Brooks, vice president of finance at SA Recycling and featuring a multi-generational panel of recycling professionals. Speakers George Adams, CEO of SA Recycling, Stef Murray, vice president of human resources & chief diversity officer at Schnitzer Steel, Sean Daoud, vice president & treasurer of PNW Metal Recycling, and Nidhi Turakhia, executive vice president of Allied Alloys, shared their perspectives on how they have, and still are, making their companies more diverse and inclusive for everyone.

ISRI Young Executive of the Year Award

This year, Dan Garvin received ISRI’s Young Executive of the Year Award. Despite the challenges and trials he’s faced since becoming president of Colorado Iron & Metal in 2014, Garvin is proud to lead a family-owned business. But Garvin’s interests didn’t always lie in recycling. Read Garvin’s Faces of ISRI feature on Scrap News to find out how one summer working for his uncle changed the trajectory of his career.

Two sessions on Day Four, the Aluminum Spotlight: A Better Year for Aluminum Markets and the OSHA Update have been rescheduled due to technical difficulties. Check ISRI2021.org and the ISRI hub for the latest updates.

Photo caption: speakers Nidhi Turakhia, Markus Moll and Alina Racu share their expert opinions on what recyclers should expect from nickel and stainless-steel markets during the session Nickel and Stainless Spotlight: Predicting the Unpredictable. Alina Racu is not pictured in this image.

 

 

Hannah Zuckerman

Hannah Zuckerman

Hannah is a Writer & Editor for ISRI's Scrap News. She's interested in a wide range of topics in the recycling industry and is always eager to learn more. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College, where she majored in History and a minored in Creative Writing. She lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband.