EDITORIAL
3recyclinginternational.com | July/August | 2020
Our website has a fascinating poll ask-
ing recyclers how much the coronavirus
crisis has affected their business. At
the time of writing, 949 people have
responded and of these 646 or 68%
say ‘Yes, the crisis has had an impact
on my business’. ‘Not yet, but I expect
it will,’ is the view of 9% of the respon-
dents while 12% maintain ‘No, not
really.’
These figures do not really surprise me.
From what I hear and see, recycling
businesses – small and big – are bat-
tling through rough weather. That was
certainly the clear message from BIR’s
first-ever online video conference (see
report on pages 18-23). Thomas
Papageorgiou of Anamet told viewers
that during six weeks of quarantine in
Greece, e-scrap collection dropped by
up to 80%. George Adams of
California-based SA Recycling shared
how the pandemic has changed every-
day life at his yards: ‘It’s cleaning hands
and wearing mouth masks all the time,
even when I am sitting at my desk in
my office.’
This crisis is affecting everyone. I don’t
mean working from home or keeping a
certain distance apart in the supermar-
ket. People get used to that – or at
least I do. It’s more that our world has
literally become smaller. I haven’t been
on an aeroplane for five months now.
No conferences, no trade shows and
no holidays in Spain.
Of course you can send emails or talk
on the phone or communicate through
Skype, Zoom or Gotomeet (these plat-
forms are skyrocketing thanks to the
virus). But, as in many other sectors,
the real business of recycling cannot
be built on conference calls and emails
alone. Ultimately, we need to meet
face to face. Or, as one recycling tech-
nology provider from Switzerland told
me: ‘Without shaking hands, you can-
not sell a machine.’
Let’s hope we are all shaking hands
again soon.
Martijn Reintjes
Chief Editor, Recycling International
Recycling International
Informaticaweg 3
7007 CP Doetinchem
The Netherlands
Battered
scrap scene
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03_viewpointchiefeditor.indd 3 06-07-20 15:27
