Will the “Real” Environmentalists Please Stand Up!

I have just returned from the CMRA mid-year meeting when your board of directors gets together to discuss the latest issues that face our industry as well as make plans for the future of the CMRA. This is always a good forum to discuss current national topics, as it is not in competition with our annual show in March.

One of the many items on the agenda was this organization’s ability to help our members become more organized as an industry. In my last article, I broached the problem that many environmental organizations see our recycling industry as something they are supposed to oppose. Who ever implied we were not uniquely concerned about the environment? During the meeting I brought up the fact that these organizations were preaching information that was anything from fact and how we need to overcome this as an industry.

As board members from around the country chimed in with their thoughts, I suggested a national database of e-mail addresses of everyone ever involved in recycling could be part of the solution in getting our message out. This sounded good in theory but based on past experience with marketing concepts from our membership committee it was pointed out this was a daunting task. The conversation began to center around taking a more regional approach to getting our point across to the masses. Comments began to be moved in the direction of what kinds of outreach programs do we all participate in? When was the last time you had a local or regional environmental group into your facility to show them exactly what you process and how you create safe end products from what they view as a questionable waste? This is where the conversation got interesting.

From a layman’s point of view the definition of waste is “anything left over or superfluous, an excess material or byproduct, not of use for the work at hand.” The kind of image this congers up does not take long to realize why we are fighting an uphill battle. The general public is being told these “wastes” are toxic and contaminated, and they take this to be true and consequently our industry as the enemy. I know from experience that each and every recycler of C&D materials has plenty of stories of people that have gotten a tour of a facility and were absolutely amazed at what we do and the valuable and safe end products we create. This is the message we need to get across.

Along with a comprehensive e-mail database of all industries that recycle materials in your state, you need to re-think your approach to outreach programs. It is imperative to get the local community behind what you do. This seems so simple, but how many times a year do you have school kids visit, civic groups, local government, environmental groups, politicians or Boys & Girls clubs, etc., go through your facilities for a comprehensive site tour? One of our board members has young school children into their facility several times a year to read a book to them about recycling. I bet you can imagine what the parents of those school children think about that recycling facility, once their children come home at night and tell them about their “awesome” field trip to a place that does a lot more than just recycle bottles and cans.

You get the picture, but will you really make the effort today to outreach into your community or state and change the way C&D recycling is understood? We are not just big business out to hurt the little guy, we are the little guys. From the demolition contractor, the trucking companies, container companies, equipment operators, equipment manufacturers, laborers, engineers, safety personnel, environmental consultants, etc., we represent a wide diversity of badly needed jobs that improve our environment through recycling. It is clearly time to educate the public as to who is really in the environmental corner.

Besides serving as the president of the CMRA, Hixon is vice president of ERRCO C&D Recycling which is under the umbrella of LL&S Recycling, Gateway MetalRecycling and DeVito Trucking with locations in Epping and Salem, N.H., and wholly owned by Reenergy Holdings LLC based out of Latham, N.Y.

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