4,448 registered visitors, 45 webinars/conferences held over five days and 3,053 participants: The first eREC – digital exhibition for the recycling industry from August 31 to September 5, 2020 was a great success. Already while the event was still going on, it was obvious: “We’ll be doing it again next year”. And in 2021 eREC will be held twice: from 3 to 8 May and from 4 to 9 October!

The realization of a new virtual expo and conference format only started in April. The eREC-team put 200 percent of their efforts into this and achieved great results in just five months. Initially, there were still doubts about whether there would be enough participants for the eREC framework program. However, there were no more slots available two weeks before the event’s premiere. Event marketing experts, graphic designers, and technical support were all available 24/7 to help 32 international exhibitors and were highly praised for their efforts. Together, it was possible to realize fantastic digital exhibition stands with high-quality content.

A special thanks goes to eREC’s host Felix Bott, who professionally guided through the conference and welcomed all special guests and well-known speakers from business, science, technology, and research. From a technical point of view, all went smoothly. The internet connection was stable the whole week and delivered the required high level of performance. On the morning of September 2, momentary, the server went down because of the high number of visitors, but this was solved quickly. The feedback received for the event was consistently positive.

All webinars are still available on the eREC YouTube channel.

The new virtual expo and conference will never be a replacement for real trade fairs. However, it has turned out that this virtual expo is a realistic and economical alternative to generate new qualified leads and to present oneself as a company in the recycling industry in a new and modern way.

Feedback: eREC 2020

Oliver Kürth, EU-Recycling Magazine editor & publisher / MSV Mediaservice & Verlag GmbH, initiator & organizer of eREC: The realization of the event was a big challenge for our team and an exciting project. The numbers of participants attending the program and registering for the webinars were pleasingly high. The winners of the Solar Power Banks and the EU Recycling Subscriptions have already been informed. “Wow! Thanks a lot! I’ve never won anything before,” said one of the winners.

I hope that we have made a significant contribution to pushing digitalization further in the recycling industry. Due to the positive feedback, we did not spend much time thinking about whether to hold another virtual trade fair. Next year, we will be hosting not just one, but two virtual trade fairs for the recycling industry. I am sure that we were able to convince the companies that were still hesitant about participating in eREC to attend the next trade fairs to benefit from the advantages of a virtual event. Next year, the eREC-team will support you again to optimize your trade show presence and generate leads and B2B contacts.

APK AG: For APK AG, eREC was the first virtual trade fair at which we participated with a virtual stand. In times of Covid-19 and as a medium-sized company in the recycling industry, it became even more essential for us to present our innovative technology Newcycling. The APK team agrees that virtual formats will become significantly more important in the future and, therefore, we attended the expo with great interest. We are very grateful for the Innovation Prize, which emphasizes the relevance of Newcycling for a recycling economy for plastics!

UNTHA shredding technology: We were both skeptical and curious before our first participation in a virtual trade fair. However, the concept of eREC positively surprised us for several reasons: Firstly, we were able to generate many new and promising leads. Secondly, the effort and costs were reasonable. And last but not least, it was the interactive design and professional support by Felix Bott that convinced us. UNTHA shredding technology will certainly remain part of the virtual trade fair scenery for a long time to come as it is a perfect addition to live trade fairs.

Barbara Höller, founder & creator of BADALA: The Digital Recycling Expo has proven to be a valuable international platform for the recycling industry. We all know how quickly climate protection must be realized, and that the ecological footprint of the world’s population must be reduced. All the more, it was a wonderful opportunity for us to present our BADALA recycling program at eREC. The diverse interest and feedback of the visitors encouraged us that our actions based on the principle of resource utilization will be the future.

Elias Chairentin, Eggersmann Group: On behalf of the Eggersmann Group, I would like to thank you for your support. I think you did a very good job – a great organization and the concept was also very successful! I can imagine that it was a special week for you too. Many, many thanks – see you at the next show!

Teresa Erben, fors.earth – Strategy Consulting for Sustainability: We were happy to be part of eREC 2020. Many thanks for the opportunity!

Paul Williams, ERI direct: My colleague John Shegerian was satisfied with all aspects of eREC. John held two webinars and participated in the panel discussion. You all did a great job, and Felix Bott was a fantastic moderator.

Michael Beetz, Hellmann Process Management: Thank you for the innovative and informative expo!

Elena Pack, Interseroh: Great number of people attending our webinar, and it was a fantastic exchange for us too.

Dr. Ralf Leinemann, INEOS Styrolution: Many thanks from our side as well! The cooperation was very pleasant, and the first questions we got from participants allowed us to talk to potential customers – or customers of our customers.

Komptech: eREC was an excellent opportunity for us to present our products and solutions to a broad audience from our industry. The concept, made up of webinars and interactive exhibition stands, attracted a great deal of attention, which is why we can look back on an exceptionally successful week at the fair. Building on this success, we are already looking forward to a new event next year.

Thomas Willeke, Head of Marketing, Doppstadt Umwelttechnik: And suddenly digital trade fairs are the norm – a challenge for companies like us to advertise our product portfolio through new channels. One of them was eREC, where we were able to successfully present topics such as “mobile modular plant and processing concepts” to customers and sales partners via online presentations. I am convinced that the future needs more eRECs.

FORREC Srl: Attending physical fairs has been always essential for FORREC. Greeting in person, shaking hands and answering questions real time is the beauty of a real event. As Italians we really care about this aspect of the relation with our customers. Thanks to eRECc we have found a new way of communicating, reaching new leads and approaching the right customer at a faster pace. That’s not the future but our present! The Forrec team has been facilitated by the kindness and the patience of Julia, Felix and the eREC team has made everything much easier and manageable.

Thank you for attending our expo and conference as exhibitor, visitor, and speaker! The next eREC will definitely come. We are looking forward to seeing you there again: 3 to 8 May and 4 to 9 October 2021. 

Source: MSV GmbH