Almost a year after my election as BIR President in Athens, I would like to take this opportunity to paint a picture of our formidable organisation and share with you my ambitions and projects for improving the organisation’s visibility for the benefit of its members and for those who observe us in a world full of change.

Our activities are undergoing unprecedented growth and the attractiveness of our sector has never been as strong as it is today – not only from the perspective of the consumers of the raw materials that we produce but also among international politicians, NGOs and large waste management companies which, through a capillary reaction, are getting ever closer to our sector and are even taking over some of our companies in order to gain an indispensable professional know-how of our activities.

The consuming industries, the political world, the NGOs and traditional waste management operators - these four forces oblige us to perform even better and, in particular, push us to become even more professional and more transparent.

If we do not tell everyone who we are and what we do, we run the risk of someone else borrowing our ideas and our achievements to make them their own while waving the virtuous banner of recycling! Given the extraordinary modernity of our sector and its perfect alignment with the needs of our planet, we must make every effort to communicate our actions and our achievements. In so saying, I have utter trust in the economic model of our companies.

Without delay, we must work on three key projects:

• First the creation of a statistical observatory, of which we will draw up an outline but will call on an external, independent body specialised in statistical studies to turn this into a reality. We will, of course, maintain control over the publication of its data. It is our aim to measure our achievements, to show the scale of our performance, and to be able to compare these year by year. This is a huge task but indispensable to widening the economic and political world’s understanding of our activities. This will also give us the opportunity to hold an annual press conference to present the results of our economic sector.

• A second, equally important challenge awaits us: measuring and providing evidence of our carbon footprint. We are all somehow aware that the origins of our work lie in providing raw materials indispensable to human activity while saving energy and reducing greenhouse gases. This is an extraordinary endeavour and justifies precise measurement. Here too, we should look to relay results on a regular basis.

• And finally, I would like to set up a committee for “International Trade and Arbitration”. We all know that our industry is inextricably linked to international trade. The increasing complexity of international exchange and the profusion of shared international regulations, as well as those regularly implemented by different countries for the purpose of environmental protection, can also put free trade in jeopardy or impose hidden/unfair taxes. For this reason we deem it necessary to set up a specific body dedicated to maintaining a watching brief so that our organisation can be proactive. This commission will necessarily take an interest in the work of the World Trade Organization and the OECD, as well as in the politics of those countries which are large consumers of our raw materials. This commission should also organise the arbitration of commercial and legal disagreements which our members, or some of our clients and industrial suppliers, would wish to submit to it.

So this is our road-map for the months to come. These three new missions seem to me fundamental for securing our future, but their realisation would not be possible without the excellent work carried out by my predecessors and without BIR’s robust financial health noted in our Director General’s report. This has resulted from wise choices combined with perfect management.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the whole team that surrounds our Director General Francis Veys for their talent and their commitment.

Dominique Maguin.
BIR President