Baxi: ‘Don’t we all want to have our cake and eat it?’

Global – Ranjit Baxi, president of the Bureau of International Recycling, is looking to counter the common practice of non-paying recyclers and traders turning up at BIR conventions. ‘We all need to work together to stop unpaid delegates visiting our conferences,’ he stresses in a letter to the world association’s members.

According to Baxi, BIR conventions remain the premier meeting places for the recycling industry, across all commodities. ‘But we hear you loud and clear when you complain that there are more people in the lobby than in the convention area,’ he writes. ‘We have been trying for many years to find a way to stop this from happening; unfortunately, as long as these people find business partners, they will continue to come back. And let’s face it, don’t we all want to save costs and still enjoy the great business contacts that a BIR convention provides? Don’t we all want to have our cake and eat it?’

In order to further open up the Asian markets to its members, BIR has decided to hold its 2017 conventions in Hong Kong and India. In the letter, the BIR president responds to concerns about the cost of attending faraway conventions. ‘I can assure you that this decision was not taken lightly,’ he explains. ‘Exploring and promoting new business opportunities for our members has always been one of BIR’s foremost objectives, and I felt it was important for us to take you to the wider Asian markets so as to help in promoting, widening and building stronger market bonds with our global fraternity.’

Baxi acknowledges that 2016 has been a tough year. ‘Markets remain volatile and challenging for most of our commodities, although for some there seems to be faint light at the end of the tunnel,’ he states. ‘As a businessman, I know the problems that your daily business can bring, and I am very sympathetic to all of you who are working hard to make ends meet in this uncertain market.’