The following questions and answers are intended to help guide anyone interested in submitting announcements for publication in Resource Recycling, Plastics Recycling Update or E-Scrap News. If you have any further questions, email our editorial staff at [email protected].
Are you interested in my announcement?
How do I know if Resource Recycling, Inc. publications (Resource Recycling, Plastics Recycling Update and E-Scrap News) would be interested in my announcement?
If it’s related in some way to the recycling or reuse of municipal solid waste (paper, plastic, metal, glass, organics or other common household materials), plastics or electronics, then we’re interested in taking a look at it.
We receive many, many press releases related to sustainability in general (renewable energy, energy efficiency, tree planting projects, natural ingredients in products, etc.), but if they don’t concern recycling, they’re not right for our audience.
I'm not an advertiser. Can I still send you a press release?
Absolutely. We have a variety of advertising options available, but whether you choose to advertise will not have a bearing on whether we deem your news right for our editorial coverage. Our editorial decision-making is independent from advertising.
Is my news too local for a national trade journal to be interested?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. If a local development impacts the wider industry – or if it informs the wider industry or is a reflection of a universal trend – we may be interested.
Is my news too old to be of interest?
That depends. “Timeliness” is a key editorial consideration. So, for example, a press release about a contract signed last year may well get less prominent attention than one signed this week or today.
Will you list RFPs, grant opportunities, job openings and upcoming conferences?
Yes, we have sections where we list requests for proposals (RFPs), grant opportunities and award announcements, and available jobs.
How do I prepare and send you the press release?
I don't have any experience writing press releases. What should I include?
As is the case with any good news article, the release should include the who, what, where, when, why and how of the announcement. Please also include phone and email contact info as well as photographs (if possible).
How can I grab your editors' attention?
The quicker you can get into the “new” of the news, the better. Start with a clear explanation of what’s happening before you go into the background. We recommend avoiding buzz words or jargon in favor of clearly explaining the concept. Also, we always appreciate getting releases before other publications – giving us an “exclusive” certainly grabs our attention!
How should I write the release so it appeals to your audience?
For Resource Recycling, Inc. publications (Resource Recycling, Plastics Recycling Update and E-Scrap News) the audience consists of recycling industry professionals spread across North America and beyond. You can assume they already understand the importance of their industry to the economy and environment.
Does the press release need to be on a formal letterhead?
Nope. But make sure to include your contact info so we can get in touch for follow-up questions.
Will you post the release online?
We do in some cases, but we appreciate it when companies and organizations post the release online themselves and provide us a link. That makes it easier for us to share the release with our readers.
Should I include logos, photos or infographics?
We generally do not publish company logos, but please send us photos to illustrate the stories. Ideally, send us images that are at least 8.5 inches wide at 300 dpi, so we can use them for either print magazine or online publication. But if that large size isn’t possible, please ensure they’re at least 72 dpi and 950 px wide for publishing online.
We rarely publish infographics, simply because they are usually small and difficult to read when formatted for a desktop or mobile device screen. If you have one posted online, we may be able to link to it, however.
Does it cost money to submit a press release?
No.
How should I send press releases to you?
You can email them to [email protected]. That goes to our editorial team. It’s helpful if you attach a doc or PDF file as well as paste the text into the body of the email, in case we have trouble opening the attachment.
Will you respect embargoes?
Generally, yes. But we urge you to check with us before sending us the information, because there’s a chance we already received it through another source. If we agree to an embargo, we will not publish the information before the agreed-upon embargo lift time and date. Note: When specifying when the embargo lifts, please include the relevant time zone.
I want to make an announcement in conjunction with the Plastics Recycling Conference and Trade Show, E-Scrap Conference and Trade Show, or Resource Recycling Conference and Trade Show. When should I send you the release?
It’s best to get us the announcement at least a week ahead of time. Because our publishing schedule changes during conference weeks, and because our editorial staff travel to and work at the conferences, we may not be able to include last-minute announcements in the e-newsletters that publish during our conferences.
What if I need to correct the press release?
If you need to resend a corrected press release, we appreciate you noting which information was corrected. That makes it easier to correct our story if we’ve already written a draft of it.
What happens after I send you the release?
Will you confirm you got the release?
We’ll try. We’re bombarded with announcements, however, so depending on the number coming in and our workload, it can be difficult to respond to every sender.
Will you call or email me seeking more information?
We may seek an interview for additional information and perspective. Please make sure to include contact information for relevant experts when you send the press release.
Will I get to see your article before it publishes?
No, we do not share drafts of entire e-newsletter articles before they are published; that being said, we may agree to send limited text excerpts ahead of time so you can verify their accuracy. If you plan to insist on reviewing text from the article before it publishes, we need to agree to what will be provided before the interview begins.
When will you publish it?
Our e-newsletters are regularly scheduled to publish Tuesdays (Resource Recycling), Wednesdays (Plastics Recycling Update) and Thursdays (E-Scrap News). Note that this schedule sometimes changes due to outside circumstances. Depending on editorial space availability, scheduling availability and workloads, and timeliness of the story, the article may need to be held over multiple publishing periods. On the other hand, if the story is of great importance to a wide swath of the industry, we may alert our readers outside of our normal publishing schedule with a breaking news email.
Will the article also run in the print magazine?
It may. A limited number of articles from our newsletters are adapted and/or copied into our print magazines. We won’t know whether the article will also make it into print until before our print magazine deadline.
What is your circulation?
Our media kit has statistics on the circulation of each of our publications.
What if I want to write my own piece for your publications?
I would like to submit a piece written by me to be published by you? Do you do that?
Yes, we publish contributed pieces by industry experts.
Is there a charge?
Nope, there is no charge because the pieces are editorial content.
How do I go about soliciting your interest?
Email your idea to [email protected]. Please be specific about what topic you plan to address and how you plan to address it. Also note how you are qualified to speak with authority on that topic. Please communicate with us and get our green-light before drafting the piece. We’d hate to have you spend the time and energy drafting an article that’s not right for our audience.
I've already written an article and sent it to several media outlets for their consideration? Can I send it to you, too?
We do not publish opinion pieces that have appeared verbatim elsewhere already. Our goal is to bring unique and relevant content to our readers. That being said, if you’ve already sent a write-up out to other media outlets, you may be able to substantially adapt it to our readership.
What topics are you interested in?
A wide variety of recycling-related topics. It may be easier to specify what we’re not interested in: pieces that strictly advertise or promote a particular service or product, overly broad pieces aimed at a mainstream audience, and concepts that are not directly related to materials diversion. Check with us ahead of time.
Do they need a photo?
Yes. We publish contributed pieces from people, not unsigned pieces from organizations, so we like to publish a photo of the author with the piece.
How long should they be?
Generally between 750 and 1,000 words, but check with us and we may agree to publish something shorter or longer.
What kind of voice should they have? Should be they opinion or strictly factual?
That’s up to you. We publish a range of pieces, from those with strong opinions to those essentially recapping study results. We encourage you to write in the first person, using “I” and “me,” but it’s certainly not necessary.
Will you edit them? If so, do I get to review the edits?
Yes, we edit all contributions that we publish. If we make minor corrections to spelling, punctuation or capitalization to fit our style, we may publish it without sending it back to you. But if we make or suggest any substantial changes to the piece, we’ll return a draft to you and get your edits and approval before publishing it. The piece is in your name, so it’s important to us that the final product truly reflects your voice.
When will it publish?
(See the “When will you publish it?” answer in the “What happens after…” section above for our publishing schedule). As is the case with stories that our writers prepare, we may have to hold the contributed piece until space allows. We’ll let you know how the schedule looks.
Can I use AI software to help me write my press release or op-ed/article contributions?
Can I use AI software to help me write my press release or op-ed/article contributions?
We realize that AI services such as ChatGPT can be a useful tool to help writers gather and clearly organize information on the page.
But these tools are also capable of making mistakes, and there have been instances of the software presenting erroneous information and fabricated data sources. Additionally, Resource Recycling feels it’s important to publish contributed pieces with a writing style that reflects the writer’s personality – we want lively writing that’s not just informative but is also enjoyable to read!
If you choose to use AI to help you write, we ask that your human brain still be responsible for crafting a majority of the writing. We also ask that you let us know which specific sections have been created using AI and that you carefully review all text provided by AI to ensure its accuracy and relevance.