The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has released its 2019 Annual Report that highlights key recycling industry developments and data as well as the organization’s activities on behalf of its membership. The report is launched ahead of BIR’s first virtual General Assembly, which will be held at the end of June 2020 following our series of online commodity sessions aimed at keeping the BIR membership and wider recycling community informed during this period of uncertain economic developments and challenges.
The publication features reports from the BIR President, Director General and Treasurer, and provides facts and figures relating to BIR’s eight commodity divisions and committees. It also highlights the main achievements and reflections of the organization’s cross-commodity bodies – theInternational Environment Council and the International Trade Council – as well as activity reports from the special committees dealing with organizational matters within BIR.
“We are looking back at a year of relative stability, compared to the current situation,” said BIR President Tom Bird. “COVID-19 has put the present and the future under a magnifying glass, and all our eyes are turned towards the weeks and months to come so we can manage our businesses through what will undoubtedly be challenging times as the world gradually returns to some form of normality. The recycling industry adapts and is resilient, and while we are rightly focused on the future, it is important to remember the lessons we have learned in the past when we as an industry have faced difficult and challenging times. Hence the relevance of our Annual Report. As an international trade organization, BIR must document our markets, our activities and our history. We must always be prepared to cast a backward glance at how things were at any given moment in time.”
The 2019 Annual Report also confirms that BIR’s membership has remained stable to slightly higher, uniting around 760 members in over 70 countries.
Available electronically in English, French and German on the BIR website, the report will be mailed in hard copy (English) to all BIR members as from 20 June 2020.
