I n t e r v I e w
30 April 2010
Bill Moore: a passion for paper recycling
Bill Moore, President of the US-based consultancy Moore & Associates,
has become internationally recognised for his in-depth market analyses
of the global recovered paper market. Like many other people, his route
into the recycling field was somewhat circuitous but the journey has
proved nonetheless welcome and rewarding
How and when did you first become
involved in paper recycling?
My recovered paper expertise began about
20 years ago, but was really a culmination of a
career in environment-related business that
spans 35 years. My entrance into the environ-
mental field was a little serendipitous. I was a
chemical process engineer who had a boss he
didn’t like. An environmental position at the
plant I worked in came open and no-one want-
ed it because jobs in the environmental field at
that time were not very popular! After 10-plus
years in the solid and hazardous waste field, I
moved into the ‘non-hazardous’ recycling field.
What attracted you to recovered paper
in particular?
When I was first involved in recycling in the mid-
1980s, I covered all materials, including tyres,
yard waste and particularly scrap plastics. Because
of my background in the chemical industry, I was
one of the few people in the solid waste industry
who knew what PET, HDPE and other resins
were, so I got put in charge of that. What really
drew me to recovered paper were the complexity
and size of the market. I had some inkling that it
would become a very global business.
What does your business do?
Moore & Associates is a recovered paper market
consulting company. The majority of our work is
in strategic analysis and market research of both
the supply and demand of recovered paper. Large
portions of our consulting engagements are
related to pricing: benchmarking, forecasting and
analysis. One interesting project that we are cur-
rently working on is how to forecast major drops
in the market, something that we’ve always had a
keen eye on. We’re trying to put some quantitative
analysis to better predicting those events.
What are the major changes that
have influenced recovered paper trends
during your time in this area?
The major change is the true globalisation of
the recovered paper market. There were always
movements within continents and nearby areas,
but the large entrance of China into the market
By Ian Martin
P030_Interview 30 30-03-2010 11:39:54
