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IAPD Announces Scholarship Recipients
The IAPD Charitable Foundation has announced the 2008 scholarship recipients. View them here.

The IAPD Charitable Foundation was established in 1981 as a non-profit tax exempt corporation to provide scholarships at the undergraduate level to employees of IAPD member firms and their children, as well as students majoring in polymer sciences or industrial distribution.

For further information on the foundation, visit www.iapdfoundation.org.

New NAW Institute Book Release
The NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence is pleased to announce a brand-new handbook: Essentials of Profitable Wholesale Distribution©, Second Edition.

Go to www.naw.org/essentialsprofwd for more information or call +202.872.0885. Quantity discounts apply when ordering two or more copies.

Twice the size of the first edition, this second edition includes both brand-new and updated instructional text and all-new graphics! The first edition was prerequisite reading at many distribution companies, so we have no doubt that this second edition will be just as valued across the wholesale distribution industry.

Making money in the wholesale distribution business gets tougher every year. When you add the current economic slump to the equation, making money can be downright grueling in some sectors of the market! More aggressive competition, expanded product lines, tighter profit margins, and more demanding customers require distributors to work longer, faster, and smarter to survive and remain profitable. Running a successful company requires cooperative efforts from knowledgeable and motivated employees. How can you ensure that your employees are aligned with their goals for high performance and profitability? Give them Essentials of Profitable Wholesale Distribution©, Second Edition!

IAPD members qualify of the NAW member association discount. Order your copy today!

IAPD Announces Environmental Statement
The IAPD Board of Directors has approved an official environmental position statement for the association. The position statement was drafted by the Environmental Committee.

The statement is IAPD’s official position and vision on environmental issues. The association encourages member companies to embrace and commit to the vision for the industry and incorporate — or continue to incorporate — environmentally-friendly business practices and philosophies.

IAPD Environmental Statement

 Our plastics association and its members are proud to operate in a broad and diverse marketplace.  In so doing, our and all businesses create an environmental footprint. We believe plastics offer unique opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle, thereby minimizing our environmental impact. We are committed to fully developing these benefits for the good of the environment, for the health of our people, and for the growth of our industry.

 We commit to:

• Training the channel and educating the public on the specific environmental benefits of plastics.
• Demonstrating environmental stewardship, both as individuals and businesses.
• Conducting recycling programs that will include the entire channel.
• Utilizing the safest and most proper disposal methods when the useful life of our products expires.
• Promoting research to develop new products and applications that offer positive environmental impacts.

 The guiding principles of our sustainability commitment are Conservation, Waste Minimization, Preservation, Cooperation and Education. In this spirit, with our fullest efforts and without undue stress on the environment, all members of our association, our companies, and the communities we call home will prosper.

For more information on IAPD's environmental initiatives, click here.

ISO 15270 will help expand plastics recovery and recycling worldwide
A new ISO International Standard will assist the emerging worldwide market for plastic recovery and recycling. Because plastic products are traded internationally and many of the plastic resin manufacturing companies and industrial users are multinational companies, the arrival of ISO 15270:2008, Plastics – Guidelines for the recovery and recycling of plastics waste, is particularly opportune.

ISO 15270:2008 has been developed to assist all plastics industry stakeholders in the development of:

• a sustainable global infrastructure for plastics recovery and recycling
• a sustainable market for recovered plastics materials and their derived manufactured products

For more information, visit www.iso.org.

IAPD Designing with Plastics e-Newsletter
IAPD has launched its exciting new Designing with Plastics complimentary e-newsletter. The newsletter is sent to more than 9,000 members and nonmembers, including more than 5,000 engineers and specifiers. The newsletter’s aim is to educate those in the engineering community on why plastics are the material of choice for today’s applications. To view past issues of the newsletter or to subscribe, click here.

Future issues will feature polycarbonate (PC); polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE); polyvinyl chloride (PVC); polypropylene (PP); polyethylene (PE); glycol modified polyethylene terephthalate (PET-G); chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC); and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). 

All IAPD members are encouraged to sponsor this educational piece. For information, contact Helen Muntean at hmuntean@iapd.org or +913.345.1005.

IAPD Addresses High Energy Costs
In a sent to Congress June 18, IAPD and other trade associations urged the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to "take decisive, effective and immediate action to address the rising cost of energy in the United States today ... Congress must act now to respond to the need for affordable energy with stable prices by taking every possible step to encourage the environmentally sensitive development of domestic energy resources." Forty-five other associations also signed the letter. The letter was sent by the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors on behalf of member wholesale distribution associations.

IAPD Announces New Partnership with Harris Infosource
Harris Infosource is IAPD’s  e-newsletter marketing partner and makes distribution of the Designing with Plastics e-newsletter to the engineering community possible. Harris Infosource offers special pricing for IAPD members. Visit www.harrisinfo.com/iapd for more information.

IAPD's Plastics Certificate Program
Are you ready for the next level?

Whether you’re a newcomer to the industry or an old pro, the IAPD Plastics Certificate program can take your knowledge to a higher level. The program was developed by the IAPD Education Committee to help educate and evaluate sales professionals in the plastics distribution industry and is based on a broad understanding of the industry. For more information, see the book store page.