Recycled Materials Association

The Recycled Materials Association, formerly known as the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries or ISRI, is a United States-based nonprofit trade association for companies involved in collecting, processing, brokering, consuming, and supporting the recycling of secondary materials. Its membership spans businesses handling ferrous and nonferrous metals, paper, plastics, electronics, rubber, glass, and textiles, as well as equipment manufacturers, technology vendors, transport providers, consultants, and other service companies. The organization represents an industry that connects discarded materials with manufacturing supply chains. Its members include small and family-owned recycling businesses, larger processors, brokers, industrial consumers, and multinational companies. The association also maintains regional chapters and provides opportunities for members to exchange technical knowledge, develop business relationships, and participate in industry events. Its annual convention and exposition is positioned as a major international gathering for recyclers and related suppliers. Policy advocacy is a central part of the association’s work. ReMA presents the recycling industry’s interests to the United States Congress, federal and state agencies, state governments, and international institutions. Its policy agenda includes the free and fair movement of recyclable commodities, regulatory compliance, workplace safety, market access, and measures intended to reduce theft of recyclable materials. The association also promotes public understanding of recycling as an industrial activity that supplies manufacturing inputs and can produce environmental benefits. The association has developed or supported programs addressing specific operational challenges. Scrap Theft Alert is a web-based notification service intended to help law-enforcement agencies and recycling businesses identify and recover stolen metals and other materials. ReMA has also participated in the development and promotion of standards for responsible electronics recycling, including the Responsible Recycling, or R2, framework. In addition, it developed the Recycling Industry Operating Standard, commonly called RIOS, to provide a broader management-system framework for recycling companies, covering areas such as environmental, health, safety, and quality practices. ReMA publishes research and economic studies about the recycling sector, including reports on employment, economic contribution, commodity exports, and the role of recycled materials in domestic and international manufacturing. These studies are used in policy discussions and public communications to demonstrate the industry’s economic scale and its contribution to resource efficiency. In summer 2024, the organization changed its name from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries to the Recycled Materials Association. The rebrand was intended to reflect the wider range of materials, technologies, and business activities represented by the modern recycling sector, rather than emphasizing the older terminology of scrap. The organization continues to operate under the ReMA identity while retaining ISRI as a historical name and commonly recognized former acronym.

The Recycled Materials Association is the successor organization to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, a trade association created to represent the commercial recycling sector in the United States and internationally. Although the available reference material does not establish a reliable founding year or identify a founder, the organization’s historical role has been to provide collective representation for companies that recover, process, trade, consume, and support the use of recyclable commodities. Its membership model reflects the structure of the recycling supply chain. Processing companies and brokers handle recovered materials, while industrial consumers purchase those materials as inputs for manufacturing. Associate members supply the machinery, transportation, software, consulting, and other services required to operate recycling facilities. The materials represented by the organization extend beyond traditional metal scrap and include paper, plastics, electronics, rubber, glass, and textiles. A major part of the association’s development has been the expansion of its work from advocacy into operational standards, safety, research, and public education. Recycling facilities face risks involving heavy equipment, traffic, fire, hazardous substances, commodity contamination, and regulatory compliance. ReMA has therefore promoted responsible operating practices and helped members address environmental, health, and safety expectations. Its RIOS program was created as a management-system framework for recyclers generally, while its work with government agencies, electronics recyclers, and other stakeholders contributed to the development and promotion of the R2 responsible electronics-recycling standard. The association has also addressed the theft of copper, aluminum, catalytic converters, and other valuable materials. Through Scrap Theft Alert, law-enforcement agencies can circulate information about stolen materials to participating recycling businesses in relevant areas. The initiative reflects the association’s effort to support legitimate recycling operations while helping members recognize and avoid transactions involving stolen property. Research and economic communication became another important component of the organization’s public role. ReMA has commissioned or published studies concerning employment, economic output, government revenues, exports, and the contribution of recycling to manufacturing. These reports support its advocacy before legislative and regulatory bodies and are intended to show that recycling is both an environmental activity and a substantial industrial and logistics sector. The association operates regional chapters and organizes policy, educational, and networking activities. Its annual convention and exposition brings together recyclers, commodity consumers, equipment manufacturers, technology companies, and service providers. These events serve as commercial marketplaces as well as venues for discussions about regulation, safety, commodity markets, technology, and industry strategy. In summer 2024, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries changed its name to the Recycled Materials Association. The new name was selected to reflect the industry’s broader materials base and its movement toward more sophisticated recovery, processing, and manufacturing systems. The change did not represent a move into a different sector; it formalized a wider description of the organization and its membership. The association remains active as a nonprofit trade body and continues to use its advocacy, standards, research, alerts, education, and events to support the recycled materials economy.

• 2024

  Name changed to Recycled Materials Association

  [1]Recycled Materials Associationen.wikipedia.org

  The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries adopted the Recycled Materials Association name, emphasizing the breadth and innovation of the contemporary recycling industry.

The representative voice and professional platform for the recycled materials industry, combining government advocacy, technical guidance, standards development, market research, safety initiatives, and member networking.

• Industry security and information service

  Scrap Theft Alert

  A web-based alert service designed to connect law-enforcement agencies with recycling businesses. Authorized reports about stolen metals or other recyclable materials can be distributed to participating scrap yards and processors in an affected geographic area, helping businesses identify suspicious material and support theft investigations.

• Management and operational standard

  Recycling Industry Operating Standard (RIOS)

  A management-system framework developed for recycling companies. RIOS is intended to help facilities integrate environmental, health, safety, and quality practices into ordinary operations and is applicable beyond the electronics-recycling segment.

• Electronics recycling standard

  Responsible Recycling (R2) standard collaboration

  ReMA worked with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, electronics recyclers, and other stakeholders in developing the Responsible Recycling standard. The framework establishes environmental, worker health, and safety expectations for companies dismantling and processing end-of-life electronics.

• Industry event

  Annual convention and exposition

  The association’s principal convention and exhibition brings together recyclers, brokers, industrial consumers, equipment manufacturers, technology providers, and service companies. It combines commercial demonstrations and networking with programming on policy, safety, commodity markets, technology, and business operations.

• Scrap Theft Alert

  United States

  A theft-prevention initiative connecting law-enforcement communities and scrap-yard operators through alerts concerning stolen recyclable materials.

  Outcome. Provides a mechanism for distributing theft reports to participating recycling businesses and supporting industry cooperation with law enforcement.

  Source
• Responsible electronics recycling advocacy

  United States · International

  ReMA participated with regulators, electronics recyclers, and other stakeholders in promoting a common environmental, health, and safety framework for electronics recycling.

  Outcome. Contributed to the development and adoption of the R2 responsible electronics-recycling standard.

  Source
• Recycling industry public-awareness and advocacy

  United States · International

  Ongoing communications and policy work highlighting the role of recycled materials in manufacturing, resource efficiency, employment, and economic activity.

  Outcome. Supports the association’s representation of recycling businesses before governments and international bodies and promotes public recognition of recycling’s industrial value.

  Source

• 2024

  Adopted the Recycled Materials Association identityStrategy

  Background

  The former Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries name emphasized scrap, while the represented industry had expanded across numerous materials, technologies, and recovery businesses.

  Action taken

  The organization changed its name and public identity to Recycled Materials Association.

  Aftermath

  The association continued its advocacy, standards, research, events, and member-support activities under the ReMA name.

  Source

1. 1Recycled Materials Associationen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Recycled Materials Association official websiteisri.org