I had the pleasure of attending the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries (CARI) 85th Annual Convention in Gatineau, Que., last week, representing the Automotive Recyclers of Canada (ARC).
The event was the largest ever for the organization, with 280 delegates, 45 exhibitors and 24 speakers and panellists across nine sessions, along with numerous networking and social opportunities. The three days packed in a lot of information. Here are my highlights.
The Exhibitors Night in the trade show kicked off the event with a packed hall. Showing the crossover in exhibitors between CARI and the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association (OARA) event, several joint vendors were there, including PMR, ELV Select, Cowan Insurance Group, Canadian Recycler Health Benefits, Gensco Equipment, Aljon and Brandt Tractor.
Also in attendance, and regulars at OARA, were Call2Recycle, Cyclic Materials, Gerdau, Triple M Metals, AIM Recycling, Accurate Recycling, Buddy AI, Glenview Iron & Metal, Larush, Scrap Metal Auction Sales Hub, Recycling Product News and Bomet Recycling.
The Annual General Meeting saw the transition from Brian Shine from Manitoba Corporation as CARI chair to incoming chair Jonathon Ross from John Ross & Sons. Jonathon outlined his goals for the year, including further advocacy and networking opportunities for the association and its membership.
Jacqueline Lotzkar, in her first full year as CARI CEO, listed the numerous wins for the association and showed great determination to keep building on those gains for the industry.
The keynote speaker for the event, Dr. Jody Carrington, delivered a humorous and insightful talk on reconnection as it relates to resilient leadership, strong teams and healthy communities.
Blake Hurtik with Argus Media helped put the current global chaos into perspective with an economic outlook session, which was especially relevant for a commodities-based sector like the one in which many CARI members operate.
The formal agenda concluded with the inevitable “AI’s real-world impact” session, delivered by John Weigelt, chief technology officer with Microsoft Canada. More change is definitely coming.
The night wrapped up with an excellent offsite event at the Domaine de l’Ange-Gardien: a traditional Québec countryside evening with live music, a sugar shack, food stations, plenty of conversation and s’mores around a huge fire. C’était magnifique!
Jonathon Ross woke everyone up with a lively government relations panel featuring Robin Wiener, president of ReMA; Stephen Yardy with PAA Advisory, the lobbyist firm working with CARI; and special guest Danny Druin with Environment and Climate Change Canada. Plastics recycling, the EU ELV Directive and lithium-ion batteries were all hot topics.
CARI has formed a NextGen Committee to engage with its under-40 members and help develop future leaders. The NextGen panel provided tremendous insight into the future of leadership within CARI, and that future is very bright.
The event wrapped up with a commodity panel covering copper, ferrous and aluminum futures, followed by a CARI resources panel with presentations from key suppliers to the CARI membership, including RIOS, Nasco-op, Canadian Recycler Health Benefits and Cowan Insurance.
This was my third CARI event and definitely the one with the most energy, the widest variety of voices and the most friendly faces, both new and old.
The overlap between CARI and ARC in terms of issues, membership, opportunities and challenges was very evident, and the positive interactions between the two national associations will continue.
