Brussels: Tech, Ted, Politics and Fish cakes!
July 1, 2019
The Recycler Live 2019 two day Conference closed last Friday after showing a healthy industry, determinedly driving forward with the full programme giving delegates a comprehensive picture of the office imaging industry.
The conference, organised by The Recycler in partnership with ETIRA, the European trade association, has once again been well attended, with a mix of European delegates. One of the highlights of the closing day of the conference was Effective Consumable Solutions’ Lauren Rabbitte speaking candidly on her perception of the need for prevention as a core requirement of the industry. She pointed size and scale of the problem of one million plastic bottles being sold every minute and these plastics find their way into our oceans. By 2050 there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. The fish consume the plastics and the fish are caught and processed into the fish cakes that we and our families eat.
On the tech side Nubeprints’ Antonio Sanchez talked about how artificial intelligence (AI), 5G mobile technology will transform office connectivity, and that using mobile technology you can engage now. Eco-Recouperi’s Matteo Costa teamed up with Imola Informatica’s Michele Cappelletti and Guido Ravagli to give a thought-provoking talk about how block chain technology could be used to provide effective tracking of consumables from when they are placed on the market, right through to when they are finally recycled.
There is hardly a day that goes by when one OEM firmware upgrade or another is in the news. But like The Recycler live audience your jaw may well hit the floor when Apex Microelectronics Olivia Ouyang shared their research that in 2018, just nine OEMs issued 989 firmware upgrades. Almost three per day!
Keypoint Intelligences Andrew Carroll did two presentations on the market situation and he shared some insights from his companies recent survey. Some good takeaways for the reuse community. Carroll also managed to create another moment of silence when he introduced the audience to Ted, otherwise known as the EU’s tenders electronic daily. Of the 36 tenders containing toner and inkjet cartridges, the major criteria was price and little or no consideration for environmental benefits of reuse. A lobbying cause waiting to happen!
Ahead of Thursdays reception and networking dinner, the ETIRA General Assembly was held where members elected Javier Martinez as President and appointed the new board.
Targeting your competitors could not be easier according to PrintEvery’s Zoltan Matyas. He gave an outstanding presentation of optimising LinkedIn and using the sales navigator tool to target your competitors customers. Judging by the number of requests for his presentation, LinkedIn will be busy.
Europe and the environment are at the heart of the industry and the conference had several hours of input on environmental issues and how to address them. Effective Consumable Solutions’ Chris Fink talked about the waste problem and the “Ins and Outs” of compliance and the benefits compliance can deliver.
David Fitzsimons of the European Remanufacturing Council (ERC) talked about how remanufacturing is on the circular economy 2.0 agenda at the Commission and the work of the European Remanufacturing Council to promote various recommendations to policy makers and others and the input of ETIRA through membership of our steering group and acknowledge the tensions between the independent companies that discovery opportunities for product value retention.
ETIRA’s Vincent van Dijk gave an overview of the work of ETIRA and the current state of play on several fronts within the EU and how the reuse agenda is rapidly growing within the EU and national governments legislative thinking.
There was a lively roundtable Q&A session with Fitzsimons, van Dijk and ETIRA’s new President, Javier Martinez and the panel was joined by Mathieu Rama, Senior Policy Officer, at RREUSE, the network of European social enterprises active in re-use, repair and recycling. The panel shared insights and responded to the many questions from the audience that carried on well into the lunch break.
David Connett of Connett & Unland GbR gave an overview of the European remanufacturing sector and share some insights into the changes that were happening in the market.
The Recycler Live Conference was generously supported by Headline Sponsor Effective Consumable Solutions, inkjet sponsor Speed Infotech, components sponsor Apex Microelectronics, Drinks reception sponsor was Armor, badge and lanyard sponsor was Biuromax, MPS sponsor was Nubeprint. Lightwords sponsored the coffee breaks.
The Recycler will bring you an in-depth and illustrated report of this year’s conference in a forthcoming issue.
Categories : World Focus
