BIR Convention: Bureau’s president sees more room for cooperation

Ranjit Baxi, president of the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), said he believes there is room for additional communication and cooperation among the world’s recyclers.

Baxi, in a meeting with members of the press at the 2016 BIR World Recycling Convention in Berlin in late May, said he is asking the Bureau to set up the BIR World Council, which he described as “like a United Nations of recycling.”

The BIR includes among its members recycling federations and companies representing more than 70 countries, said Baxi. In addition to increased communication through his proposed council, Baxi said he also would like to see the BIR’s membership grow to include members from “80 to 90 of the world’s more than 200 countries.”

Baxi believes a council that allows leaders of the world’s recycling and scrap-consuming federations to meet in one place can allow BIR to “help them, educate them [and] understand them,” and, in the case of consumers, assist them “to better use secondary raw materials.”

Baxi also said he is working with BIR staff and members to establish a World Recycling Day as a way to promote the industry globally. He further announced that the 2017 BIR Autumn Roundtable event will be held in the Indian city of Delhi.

While Baxi, who is chairman of London-based J & H Sales International, is trying to bring the recycling world together, voters in his company’s home country will head to the polls June 23, 2016, to decide whether to stay in the European Union.

“I am primarily an EU supporter and will be voting to stay in,” said Baxi. Among the questions voters should be asking, said Baxi: “Is it important for the United Kingdom to be part of the EU and benefit from the big market? Or [should the U.K.] look for new markets?”

The 2016 BIR World Recycling Convention was May 29-June 1 at the InterContinental Hotel in Berlin.