Rei

Rei Ayanami (Japanese: 綾波 レイ, Hepburn: Ayanami Rei) is a fictional character from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, created by Gainax. She is the First Child and pilot of a giant mecha named Evangelion Unit 00. At the beginning of the series, Rei is an enigmatic figure whose unusual behavior astonishes her peers. At REI, or Recreational Equipment Inc., they believe that a life spent outdoors is a life well-lived. Since 1983 they have brought top-quality gear, apparel, expert advice, rental.

Reiki

Dennis Madsen knows what makes employees loyal. Thirty-six years ago, he answered a want ad for part-time work stocking shelves at Recreational Equipment Incorporated. The company so suited him that he stayed on, working his way through high school and college, even returning to REI during his leaves from military service. Today he is president and CEO, leader of the 6,300-employee, $735 million cooperative that has built its reputation selling specialty gear to campers, hikers, climbers, and others with an appetite for high-end outdoors equipment. Though the company has had to tighten its belt in a tough economy, it continues to attract passionate customers and employees, more than 2 million of whom share in its profits as members. HBR's Gardiner Morse spoke with Madsen about REI's culture and the business of running a cooperative. Following are edited excerpts of their conversation.

For the sixth year in a row, REI has turned up on Fortune's list of the 100 best companies to work for. What's your secret?

It's all about getting the culture right. Employees can get benefits and incentives anywhere, but it's harder for them to find a place where they can totally immerse themselves in the culture. We attract outdoors-oriented employees who sustain the culture and attract even more like-minded employees. They share the same interests and values; they're committed to the environment, to the community, to work-life balance, and to having fun outside. And that goes for management, too.

The culture originated with the founders. Sixty-five years ago Lloyd and Mary Anderson started REI out of their love for the mountains and their loyalty to their mountaineering friends. They set up REI as a cooperative—so rather than making money off their friends, they returned the profits to customers as a patronage dividend. The first item they imported was an ice axe, because the one Lloyd bought here in Seattle broke the first time he used it. He was pretty upset. Having reliable gear is a matter of life and death for climbers. So that's where the focus on trustworthy equipment came from.

Material benefits and incentives are also an important part of the mix. We try to align the incentives with the culture. For instance, most of our employees like the gear we sell. They use it themselves. So we offer them 'challenge grants' as a way to win equipment. One employee or several of them together submit an application describing an outdoor challenge they'd like to pursue that they've never done before, like climb Mount Rainier or hike the Appalachian Trail, and the gear they would need to do it. We judge the applications according to how much of a personal stretch the challenge is for an employee or group. And if the application is approved, the company gives the individual or the team free REI equipment. We gave away $30,000 worth of gear and clothing last year.

Most companies would say they're just like REI—driven by values and focused on employees and the community. Is REI really so different from any other retailer?

A crucial point is that we're a cooperative; we're owned by our customers. Anyone can be a customer of course, but millions of our customers who want to share in the profits pay a onetime membership fee and receive special offers and a refund based on the value of their purchases. Clearly, employees are important to corporate culture, but so are our customer-owners. When you're owned by third-party investors whose only stake in the business is the money they've invested, then senior managers have to focus on earnings per share and the impact of quarterly reports on share prices. They need to generate profits at any cost, grow at any cost. I have watched this take a toll on some well-known brands in the outdoor-equipment industry, where management's decisions weren't in the long-term interests of the brand and the position it holds in the market. But when customers are owners, their interest is not solely about earnings. They're interested in seeing good products and prices at their stores.

Still, you have to be profitable and grow.

Being a cooperative doesn't mean we aren't profit driven. We have to control our top-line growth and expenses and be accountable for a bottom line that is not only going to pay the dividend to our owners but also show a profit at the end of the year. Outdoor-equipment retailing is very competitive, and we have to operate this business with the same rigor that a traditionally organized business does. It is what we do with our profits that's different, and that allows us a more mid- to long-term focus. I'm not so worried about what this quarter is going to look like versus last quarter, so I can stay focused on maintaining consistent product quality and service rather than on how I am going to make my numbers in the short term. That's good for customers.

De dignitate psalter pdf online. Like any for-profit business, you've had to make unpopular operating decisions—closing stores and moving some manufacturing operations outside the United States. How do you talk to employees about their concerns?

I spend most of my time staying in front of employees, engaging them in dialogues. The executive team and I do quarterly 'town hall' meetings with groups of 200 employees at a time, where 40 minutes of the hour is devoted to Q&A. Employees won't always tell you what's on their minds if they're forced to raise their hand in a public forum. So we leave three-by-five-inch index cards and pencils taped to every chair in the auditorium. Employees can write their questions, the cards are collected and brought up, and we answer them on the spot. This type of forum can put you on the hot seat, but it certainly opens up communication and builds trust. We also have a Q&A section on our intranet. I get hundreds of questions a month from employees all over the country. And some of these questions have ultimately led to policy changes. We're not just paying lip service to open communication.

REI was a pioneer in on-line retailing. Any Web blunders along the way?

I was very enthusiastic about the Web, and the company jumped in with both feet. In general, on-line retailing has been phenomenally successful for us. Our Web-based sales were doing so well that we decided to discontinue our catalogs in 2000 and send customers directly to the Internet. Boy, did we hear about that! The customers weren't ready. And so we scrambled to reinstate the catalogs. The lesson is to be careful not to get too far ahead of your customers. Be measured. Balance your enthusiasm with careful research.

Have you ever had a close call in the outdoors?

Yeah, being a climber, I've had my share of falls. I once broke through a snow bridge and fell into a crevasse in a glacier on Mount Adams. I nearly pulled my rope mate in with me, and I knew we were in a very serious situation. Fortunately, he was able to stop the fall and pull me out. Mountain climbing is risky. You've got to be prepared for the unexpected—just like when you're running a business. I use the analogy all the time. You set a goal. You assemble a team and equip and train them. Then you begin your climb. As you're climbing, you assess your conditions: weather, supplies, the abilities of the team. And you're constantly reassessing your odds and your strategies based on all those factors. I think the most important lesson businesses can learn from mountain climbers is that when things are going badly—when it looks like you just aren't going to make it—you pull back and regroup at base camp. That's not failure; it's just common sense.

Mountain climbing is risky. You've got to be prepared for the unexpected—just like when you're running a business.

Additional Resources

The Recycling Economic Information (REI) Report aims to increase the understanding of the economic implications of material reuse and recycling. Recycling is a critical part of the U.S. economy – contributing to jobs, wages and government tax revenue. Recycling has been an important component of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decades-long efforts to implement the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and its more recent efforts to pursue a Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) approach, which aims to reduce the environmental impacts of materials across their lifecycle. EPA's SMM program provides data, information, guidelines, tools and technical assistance on resource conservation, recycling, resource recovery, waste reduction and landfilling issues.

Recycling also conserves resources and protects the environment. Environmental benefits include reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills and combustion facilities; conserving natural resources, such as timber, water and minerals; and preventing pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials. Economic and community benefits include increasing economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials, supporting American manufacturing and creating jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries.

On this page:

• Frequent Questions

Background on the REI Report

In 2001, to encourage the development of an economic market for recycling, EPA supported the creation of a national Recycling Economic Information (REI) Project and the related REI report, based upon the work of several states and regions. Compiled through a cooperative agreement with the National Recycling Coalition, the study confirmed what many have known for decades: there are significant economic benefits in recycling.

EPA updated the 2001 REI Study in 2016 with a new analytical framework for estimating the broader environmental and economic impacts associated with recycling. Based on 2007 input-output data maintained by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the 2016 Report developed a Waste Input-Output (WIO) model designed to capture the flow of material inputs and outputs, as well as the flow of goods and wastes. It also covered the economic activities of nine sectors: ferrous metals, nonferrous metals (aluminum), glass, paper, plastics, rubber, construction and demolition (C&D), electronics and organics (including food and yard trimmings). Finally, the 2016 study incorporated the notion of material transformation into the definition of recycling, allowing the model to capture the process influence from refurbishing or remanufacturing of goods, providing a more realistic scope of the entire process.

The 2020 REI Report builds off its 2016 predecessor by presenting updated results for the nine material categories using the same WIO model, based on 2012 BEA data. The report estimates changes in recycling's total economic impacts, including wages, employment and tax revenue generated to support recycling activities as an aggregate and for each material. In addition, it provides a comparison of the results between the updated model and the 2016 version.

Key Findings of the 2020 REI Report

The 2020 REI Report includes updated information about the number of recycling jobs, wages and tax revenue. The report shows that recycling and reuse of materials creates jobs, while also generating local and state tax revenues. In 2012, recycling and reuse activities in the United States accounted for:

• 681,000 jobs
• $37.8 billion in wages; and
• $5.5 billion in tax revenues

Omnisphere keygen generator plugin. This equates to 1.17 jobs for every 1,000 tons of materials recycled. The ferrous metals industry provides the largest contribution to all three categories (job, wage, and tax revenue), followed by construction and demolition (C&D) and non-ferrous metals such as aluminum.

The 2020 REI Report uses an analytical framework and a Waste Input-Output methodology, which focused on the life cycle of materials. These were developed with the 2016 REI Study and updated with the most recent iteration of the report. This methodology will assist decision makers and researchers in more accurately estimating the economic benefits of recycling and create a foundation upon which additional studies can be built.

Frequent Questions

Rei Outlet

1. What is the significance of the 2020 REI Report?

Recycling conserves natural resources, strengthens our economy and creates jobs. Recycling is an essential part of Sustainable Materials Management (SMM), an approach that emphasizes the productive and sustainable use of materials across their entire life cycle, while minimizing their environmental impacts. The 2020 REI Report builds off an analytical framework that was developed with the 2016 REI Study, which focuses on SMM. The 2020 REI Report covers the economic activities of nine sectors: ferrous metals, nonferrous metals (aluminum), glass, paper, plastics, rubber, construction and demolition (C&D), electronics and organics (including food and yard trimmings).

2. What is the significance of the report's title?

The 2020 Recycling Economic Information (REI) Report builds on the work from the 2001 and 2016 REI studies. The report focuses on the economic impacts of recycling rather than the environmental benefits, as the environmental benefits have been researched in detail. Accurately estimating the impact that recycling has on jobs, wages and taxes is important because the results can influence policy decisions and provide a more robust picture of recycling by adding an economic layer on top of the more heavily researched environmental impacts of recycling.

3. How does the REI report approach recycling?

Rei Corporation

The REI report approaches recycling as the recovery of materials, such as paper, glass, plastic, metals, construction and demolition (C&D) material and organics from the waste stream (e.g., municipal solid waste), along with the transformation of materials, to make new products and reduce the amount of virgin raw materials needed to meet consumer demands. The 2020 REI Report identifies nine materials and investigates their direct and indirect impact on jobs, wages and taxes.

4. How does the report relate to Sustainable Materials Management (SMM)?

SMM refers to the use and reuse of materials in the most productive and sustainable way across their entire life cycle. On a broader scale, SMM examines social, environmental and economic factors, each playing a critical role, to get a more holistic view of the entire system. The benefits of maximizing this connection include conserving resources, reducing waste, slowing climate change and minimizing the environmental impacts of the materials we use. Since the third key element to SMM is economics, it was important to update the REI Report to provide an economic and systemic view of recycling.

5. What are the main outcomes and takeaways of the report?

The 2020 REI Report reiterates that recycling and recycled products play an important role in our economy and have significant positive impacts on jobs, wages and tax collections.

On a national average, there are 1.17 jobs, $65,230 wages and $9,420 tax revenues attributable, for every 1,000 (US) tons of recyclables collected and recycled.

Reiterate

6. What was the methodology behind the 2020 REI Report and how does an input-output model work?

EPA developed a waste input-output (WIO) model to provide an improved analytical framework for better understanding the contributions of recycling to the U.S. economy. Instead of examining the job codes within the context of an I-O model, the 2020 REI Report focuses on nine material categories and follows the flow of materials through the WIO model. By focusing on material categories, the model identifies direct impacts of recycling on jobs, wages and taxes and then upstream indirect impacts. The WIO model builds on the official U.S. input-output (I-O) tables maintained by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). These tables describe the economic transactions between industries in the U.S. and are used to formulate U.S. monetary and fiscal policy. Using the I-O tables as the starting point, the WIO model adds information about recyclable and recycled material flows in the U.S., and information about employment and local, state and federal tax revenue. Combining this information with the detailed statistics regarding economic transactions enables the estimation of the economic activity attributable to recycling.

Sports Basement

For more specific information about the methodology (including examples) please see the methodology paper Chapter 3: Summary of the WIO Model Methodology

7. Which methodological approach was used to provide the statistics and metrics?

The 'direct and indirect production of recycling', also called the total impacts approach in the methodology document, was chosen to communicate the results of the study.
The total impacts approach accounted for not only direct, but also upstream supply chain economic activity attributable to recycling processes. In addition to the total impacts approach, three other approaches were analyzed and are explained in detail in the methodology document.

8. What are the data sources for the report?

Reindeer

The key data sources for this report include industry outreach, existing reports (including government, industry and other publicly available reports) and life cycle inventory datasets. Below is a list of organizations and industry associations involved in the data sourcing for this report:

9. How does the 2020 REI Report differ from the 2016 REI Report?

Rei Camping Store

It's all about getting the culture right. Employees can get benefits and incentives anywhere, but it's harder for them to find a place where they can totally immerse themselves in the culture. We attract outdoors-oriented employees who sustain the culture and attract even more like-minded employees. They share the same interests and values; they're committed to the environment, to the community, to work-life balance, and to having fun outside. And that goes for management, too.

The culture originated with the founders. Sixty-five years ago Lloyd and Mary Anderson started REI out of their love for the mountains and their loyalty to their mountaineering friends. They set up REI as a cooperative—so rather than making money off their friends, they returned the profits to customers as a patronage dividend. The first item they imported was an ice axe, because the one Lloyd bought here in Seattle broke the first time he used it. He was pretty upset. Having reliable gear is a matter of life and death for climbers. So that's where the focus on trustworthy equipment came from.

Material benefits and incentives are also an important part of the mix. We try to align the incentives with the culture. For instance, most of our employees like the gear we sell. They use it themselves. So we offer them 'challenge grants' as a way to win equipment. One employee or several of them together submit an application describing an outdoor challenge they'd like to pursue that they've never done before, like climb Mount Rainier or hike the Appalachian Trail, and the gear they would need to do it. We judge the applications according to how much of a personal stretch the challenge is for an employee or group. And if the application is approved, the company gives the individual or the team free REI equipment. We gave away $30,000 worth of gear and clothing last year.

Most companies would say they're just like REI—driven by values and focused on employees and the community. Is REI really so different from any other retailer?

A crucial point is that we're a cooperative; we're owned by our customers. Anyone can be a customer of course, but millions of our customers who want to share in the profits pay a onetime membership fee and receive special offers and a refund based on the value of their purchases. Clearly, employees are important to corporate culture, but so are our customer-owners. When you're owned by third-party investors whose only stake in the business is the money they've invested, then senior managers have to focus on earnings per share and the impact of quarterly reports on share prices. They need to generate profits at any cost, grow at any cost. I have watched this take a toll on some well-known brands in the outdoor-equipment industry, where management's decisions weren't in the long-term interests of the brand and the position it holds in the market. But when customers are owners, their interest is not solely about earnings. They're interested in seeing good products and prices at their stores.

Still, you have to be profitable and grow.

Being a cooperative doesn't mean we aren't profit driven. We have to control our top-line growth and expenses and be accountable for a bottom line that is not only going to pay the dividend to our owners but also show a profit at the end of the year. Outdoor-equipment retailing is very competitive, and we have to operate this business with the same rigor that a traditionally organized business does. It is what we do with our profits that's different, and that allows us a more mid- to long-term focus. I'm not so worried about what this quarter is going to look like versus last quarter, so I can stay focused on maintaining consistent product quality and service rather than on how I am going to make my numbers in the short term. That's good for customers.

De dignitate psalter pdf online. Like any for-profit business, you've had to make unpopular operating decisions—closing stores and moving some manufacturing operations outside the United States. How do you talk to employees about their concerns?

I spend most of my time staying in front of employees, engaging them in dialogues. The executive team and I do quarterly 'town hall' meetings with groups of 200 employees at a time, where 40 minutes of the hour is devoted to Q&A. Employees won't always tell you what's on their minds if they're forced to raise their hand in a public forum. So we leave three-by-five-inch index cards and pencils taped to every chair in the auditorium. Employees can write their questions, the cards are collected and brought up, and we answer them on the spot. This type of forum can put you on the hot seat, but it certainly opens up communication and builds trust. We also have a Q&A section on our intranet. I get hundreds of questions a month from employees all over the country. And some of these questions have ultimately led to policy changes. We're not just paying lip service to open communication.

REI was a pioneer in on-line retailing. Any Web blunders along the way?

I was very enthusiastic about the Web, and the company jumped in with both feet. In general, on-line retailing has been phenomenally successful for us. Our Web-based sales were doing so well that we decided to discontinue our catalogs in 2000 and send customers directly to the Internet. Boy, did we hear about that! The customers weren't ready. And so we scrambled to reinstate the catalogs. The lesson is to be careful not to get too far ahead of your customers. Be measured. Balance your enthusiasm with careful research.

Have you ever had a close call in the outdoors?

Yeah, being a climber, I've had my share of falls. I once broke through a snow bridge and fell into a crevasse in a glacier on Mount Adams. I nearly pulled my rope mate in with me, and I knew we were in a very serious situation. Fortunately, he was able to stop the fall and pull me out. Mountain climbing is risky. You've got to be prepared for the unexpected—just like when you're running a business. I use the analogy all the time. You set a goal. You assemble a team and equip and train them. Then you begin your climb. As you're climbing, you assess your conditions: weather, supplies, the abilities of the team. And you're constantly reassessing your odds and your strategies based on all those factors. I think the most important lesson businesses can learn from mountain climbers is that when things are going badly—when it looks like you just aren't going to make it—you pull back and regroup at base camp. That's not failure; it's just common sense.

Mountain climbing is risky. You've got to be prepared for the unexpected—just like when you're running a business.

Additional Resources

The Recycling Economic Information (REI) Report aims to increase the understanding of the economic implications of material reuse and recycling. Recycling is a critical part of the U.S. economy – contributing to jobs, wages and government tax revenue. Recycling has been an important component of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decades-long efforts to implement the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and its more recent efforts to pursue a Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) approach, which aims to reduce the environmental impacts of materials across their lifecycle. EPA's SMM program provides data, information, guidelines, tools and technical assistance on resource conservation, recycling, resource recovery, waste reduction and landfilling issues.

Recycling also conserves resources and protects the environment. Environmental benefits include reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills and combustion facilities; conserving natural resources, such as timber, water and minerals; and preventing pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials. Economic and community benefits include increasing economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials, supporting American manufacturing and creating jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries.

On this page:

• Frequent Questions

Background on the REI Report

In 2001, to encourage the development of an economic market for recycling, EPA supported the creation of a national Recycling Economic Information (REI) Project and the related REI report, based upon the work of several states and regions. Compiled through a cooperative agreement with the National Recycling Coalition, the study confirmed what many have known for decades: there are significant economic benefits in recycling.

EPA updated the 2001 REI Study in 2016 with a new analytical framework for estimating the broader environmental and economic impacts associated with recycling. Based on 2007 input-output data maintained by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the 2016 Report developed a Waste Input-Output (WIO) model designed to capture the flow of material inputs and outputs, as well as the flow of goods and wastes. It also covered the economic activities of nine sectors: ferrous metals, nonferrous metals (aluminum), glass, paper, plastics, rubber, construction and demolition (C&D), electronics and organics (including food and yard trimmings). Finally, the 2016 study incorporated the notion of material transformation into the definition of recycling, allowing the model to capture the process influence from refurbishing or remanufacturing of goods, providing a more realistic scope of the entire process.

The 2020 REI Report builds off its 2016 predecessor by presenting updated results for the nine material categories using the same WIO model, based on 2012 BEA data. The report estimates changes in recycling's total economic impacts, including wages, employment and tax revenue generated to support recycling activities as an aggregate and for each material. In addition, it provides a comparison of the results between the updated model and the 2016 version.

Key Findings of the 2020 REI Report

The 2020 REI Report includes updated information about the number of recycling jobs, wages and tax revenue. The report shows that recycling and reuse of materials creates jobs, while also generating local and state tax revenues. In 2012, recycling and reuse activities in the United States accounted for:

• 681,000 jobs
• $37.8 billion in wages; and
• $5.5 billion in tax revenues

Omnisphere keygen generator plugin. This equates to 1.17 jobs for every 1,000 tons of materials recycled. The ferrous metals industry provides the largest contribution to all three categories (job, wage, and tax revenue), followed by construction and demolition (C&D) and non-ferrous metals such as aluminum.

The 2020 REI Report uses an analytical framework and a Waste Input-Output methodology, which focused on the life cycle of materials. These were developed with the 2016 REI Study and updated with the most recent iteration of the report. This methodology will assist decision makers and researchers in more accurately estimating the economic benefits of recycling and create a foundation upon which additional studies can be built.

Frequent Questions

Rei Outlet

1. What is the significance of the 2020 REI Report?

Recycling conserves natural resources, strengthens our economy and creates jobs. Recycling is an essential part of Sustainable Materials Management (SMM), an approach that emphasizes the productive and sustainable use of materials across their entire life cycle, while minimizing their environmental impacts. The 2020 REI Report builds off an analytical framework that was developed with the 2016 REI Study, which focuses on SMM. The 2020 REI Report covers the economic activities of nine sectors: ferrous metals, nonferrous metals (aluminum), glass, paper, plastics, rubber, construction and demolition (C&D), electronics and organics (including food and yard trimmings).

2. What is the significance of the report's title?

The 2020 Recycling Economic Information (REI) Report builds on the work from the 2001 and 2016 REI studies. The report focuses on the economic impacts of recycling rather than the environmental benefits, as the environmental benefits have been researched in detail. Accurately estimating the impact that recycling has on jobs, wages and taxes is important because the results can influence policy decisions and provide a more robust picture of recycling by adding an economic layer on top of the more heavily researched environmental impacts of recycling.

3. How does the REI report approach recycling?

Rei Corporation

The REI report approaches recycling as the recovery of materials, such as paper, glass, plastic, metals, construction and demolition (C&D) material and organics from the waste stream (e.g., municipal solid waste), along with the transformation of materials, to make new products and reduce the amount of virgin raw materials needed to meet consumer demands. The 2020 REI Report identifies nine materials and investigates their direct and indirect impact on jobs, wages and taxes.

4. How does the report relate to Sustainable Materials Management (SMM)?

SMM refers to the use and reuse of materials in the most productive and sustainable way across their entire life cycle. On a broader scale, SMM examines social, environmental and economic factors, each playing a critical role, to get a more holistic view of the entire system. The benefits of maximizing this connection include conserving resources, reducing waste, slowing climate change and minimizing the environmental impacts of the materials we use. Since the third key element to SMM is economics, it was important to update the REI Report to provide an economic and systemic view of recycling.

5. What are the main outcomes and takeaways of the report?

The 2020 REI Report reiterates that recycling and recycled products play an important role in our economy and have significant positive impacts on jobs, wages and tax collections.

On a national average, there are 1.17 jobs, $65,230 wages and $9,420 tax revenues attributable, for every 1,000 (US) tons of recyclables collected and recycled.

Reiterate

6. What was the methodology behind the 2020 REI Report and how does an input-output model work?

EPA developed a waste input-output (WIO) model to provide an improved analytical framework for better understanding the contributions of recycling to the U.S. economy. Instead of examining the job codes within the context of an I-O model, the 2020 REI Report focuses on nine material categories and follows the flow of materials through the WIO model. By focusing on material categories, the model identifies direct impacts of recycling on jobs, wages and taxes and then upstream indirect impacts. The WIO model builds on the official U.S. input-output (I-O) tables maintained by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). These tables describe the economic transactions between industries in the U.S. and are used to formulate U.S. monetary and fiscal policy. Using the I-O tables as the starting point, the WIO model adds information about recyclable and recycled material flows in the U.S., and information about employment and local, state and federal tax revenue. Combining this information with the detailed statistics regarding economic transactions enables the estimation of the economic activity attributable to recycling.

Sports Basement

For more specific information about the methodology (including examples) please see the methodology paper Chapter 3: Summary of the WIO Model Methodology

7. Which methodological approach was used to provide the statistics and metrics?

The 'direct and indirect production of recycling', also called the total impacts approach in the methodology document, was chosen to communicate the results of the study.
The total impacts approach accounted for not only direct, but also upstream supply chain economic activity attributable to recycling processes. In addition to the total impacts approach, three other approaches were analyzed and are explained in detail in the methodology document.

8. What are the data sources for the report?

Reindeer

The key data sources for this report include industry outreach, existing reports (including government, industry and other publicly available reports) and life cycle inventory datasets. Below is a list of organizations and industry associations involved in the data sourcing for this report:

9. How does the 2020 REI Report differ from the 2016 REI Report?

Rei Camping Store

The differences between the 2020 REI Report and the 2016 REI Report are primarily in the base years of data and recycling trends. Detailed benchmark input-output statistics from BEA, which serve as the source data for REI reports, come out roughly every five years; as such, the 2016 study used a base year of 2007, while the 2020 study uses a base year of 2012. Furthermore, there were changes to the REI modeling methods for estimating recycling process inputs, which can result in substantial changes in total impacts. In this case, the recycling process inputs data for plastics and C&D recycling are estimated from publicly available process-based life cycle assessment data sources, and thus may reflect a difference in scope compared to the 2007 model.

10. Does this report include 'pre-use' or recycling materials that are reused within the manufacturing sector?

No. 'Pre-use' or recycled materials that are reused within the manufacturing sector were not included primarily due to a lack of data.