CMRA reflects and looks to the future.

* The Mid-Year Meeting of the Construction Materials Recycling Association's (CMRA) Board of Directors focused on the association's recent successes and helped outline a path for its future growth.

Among those successes were actions taken by the CMRA Issues & Education Fund, a separate organization that advocates on behalf of C&D recyclers. In the past year the fund was part of the coalition that worked to kill an application for a rail transfer facility in Massachusetts that would have had an unfair advantage over other recyclers, worked with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to modify a ban on the use of ADC made from C&D in MSW landfills and worked in California and Florida to influence legislative actions to promote C&D recycling.

In addition, the fund commissioned a report that characterized C&D fines from across the country and is developing a best management practices guide for the use of ADC made from C&D. The fund also supported C&D advocates to attend industry meetings to refute charges the ADC was causing hydrogen sulfide gas problems that could be solved by better operating techniques.

"In the future the fund will continue to be used to promote the viewpoints of C&D recyclers to regulators and legislators," says William Turley, executive director, CMRA and associate publisher of Construction & Demolition Recycling. "Recyclers have a great story to tell, from the economic benefits of recycling to the well-known environmental benefits. C&D recyclers just needed an advocate for those positions, and that is what the fund does."

In other actions, the Awards Committee, chaired by Jerry Johnstone of the Horry County (S.C.) Solid Waste Authority, revised the criteria and categories for the annual award competition, a revision the board approved. The criteria have become simpler in order to make it easier for recyclers to submit entries. More than 500 applications will be mailed out shortly.

The ADC (Alternative Daily Cover) Committee, chaired by Rob Hosier of General Services, reported on its first two meetings. Work is being done on refining a test protocol for C&D debris to be used as ADC.

The Publicity Committee is starting the process of revising the association's logo to more accurately reflect the CMRA's national focus.

The Financial Committee, headed by Jonathan Hixon, of Environmental Resource Return Corp. (ERRCO), Epping, N.H., and current secretary/treasurer of the CMRA, said at the end of the 2005 fiscal year the association had about 20 percent more revenue in its bank account from the previous year.

The Annual Meeting Committee, chaired by CMRA President Rick Givan, Recycled Materials Co. Inc. (RMCI), Arvada, Colo., is progressing well, with several sponsorships already received and nearly half of the booths sold. That meeting will be held Jan. 15-18 in Miami. Future meeting sites will be New Orleans in 2007 and Las Vegas in 2008.

The meeting concluded with a roundtable discussion about the future direction of the CMRA. It was determined the association needed to offer more hard products beyond its current core of information, which many industry companies get to use anyway without joining the CMRA. In addition, the added focus on regulatory and legislative initiatives is very important to the growth of the industry.