Chairman’s Corner

ISRI’s National Convention & Exposition is less than five weeks away. If you have not registered yet please do so now. The Electronics Division leadership has put a lot of work into developing an exceptional set of sessions for this year’s convention that I trust everyone will gain value from by attending. Further down in this newsletter you will find a detailed description of the sessions being offered. We are also very thankful to Walter Alcon and the CTA for sponsoring and moderating our spotlight session which will have a number of panelists from large electronics manufactures. These manufacturer representatives will be sticking around to answer questions from attendees, and this can be your chance to meet and interact at this level.

Our winter governance meeting in Austin was very well attended. At the meeting we had Corey Dehmey and Sean De Vries from SERI to present an overview of the R2 development process and then to field questions from members about impending changes to the R2 standard that are coming in the new release. Sean and Corey will also be at the convention in Los Angeles where we will be holding an open discussion period for all of the attendees to ask questions and provide feedback on the newest version of the standard. SERI and the members of the R2 TAC are working very hard to get the final draft released for public comment prior to the convention so that all R2 certified companies, and those contemplating adding R2 to their business model,  will have time to review it prior to coming to the convention. The Electronics Division has been following the development of the revisions to the standard and with what we know so far, many of the changes are significant and will have major impact on recyclers and their operations. I strongly recommend attending the session at the convention and taking advantage of the opportunity to speak directly with the SERI staff about these proposed changes and how they will impact your business. It also very important that all R2 companies take time to review the standard when it comes out for public comment and to provide feedback to SERI. The SERI staff and members of the TAC have worked very hard over the past three years to develop these changes and to not respond with well-thought out comments would be a disservice to SERI, the industry, and your company.

Recently, the Indian government issued policy changes and statements regarding the importation of scrap plastics into India for recycling. It appears that the government is proposing to ban many types of imported plastics for recycling. ISRI’s Adina Renee Adler is actively researching the implications of these policy decisions and how they will impact our members. We will update you as we gain a clearer picture.

There have also been questions raised by ISRI members regarding the implications of the Wayfair Act on the E-Commerce space that many of our members participate in. In this newsletter ISRI’s Danielle Waterfield weighs in on the legislation and what you should be doing as a business if you are active in online sales to consumers. As the saying goes, “two things in life are guaranteed, death and taxes.” I would strongly recommend that you talk to your tax attorney if you are operating in this space and make sure you are compliant with the new regulations.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the convention in Los Angeles.