Entering Fort Knox

Recycling companies could and should be more open to show their importance for sustainability, proclaims Colin Kelly, chair of the US recycling industry body ReMA.

In the September/October Issue of Recycling International (read it here) Kelly calls on to recyclers to open the gates of their facilities to help educate the broader public about recycling and its benefits for society. It’s a very good point, raised by a man who has built most of his career outside the recycling industry.

A former restaurant host, Kelly has learned from experience that genuine hospitality and friendliness are key drivers to success. Not only in the restaurant business but in other sectors and industries, including recycling.

Luckily, on my travels for Recycling International I’ve come across many great examples of businesses that are open and willing to share their stories. It’s what this magazine is built on.

Even so, very rarely, I’m confronted with companies who’d rather keep their gates (and minds) closed than have me nosing around asking questions. My worst experience in recent years, and an example of terrible PR, was a visit to a non-ferrous recycling plant whose name I’m leaving out here.

Just getting approval for the visit was a nightmare. It took three months, 62 emails, 13 phone calls, copies of my and our company director’s passports, my job contract plus piles of legal paperwork in which I declared that no ‘secret’ information would be used. Crazy!

All this effort just to visit a company for a positive story. It wasn’t as if I was trying to get permission to enter Fort Knox. To make things worse, the night before the visit was due to take place, it was postponed for 24 hours.

A day later, after strict checks and a cross-examination by an unfriendly security officer (‘YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE PICTURES!’), I was finally welcomed by two poor-English speaking plant managers.

Fortunately, my good experiences at other plants – typically family owned companies without incompetent management layers to frustrate decision-making – are countless.

Recyclers such as Recicla Centro in Puebla, Mexico, for example. A short conference call and one or two WhatsApp messages was all it took to visit these great people and their yard and write up their story (see page 16-19).