Joel Litman Honored with 2023 Israel Proler Award from ISRI
DALLAS, TEXAS (August 2023): Recycling industry veteran Joel Litman, president and co-owner of Texas Recycling, Inc. in Dallas, was presented with the 2023 Israel Proler Award from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) Gulf Coast Region at the region’s summer convention at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas. The prestigious award is named in honor of Israel Proler of Proler International Corp. in Houston. It recognizes recipients each year for their outstanding leadership, achievements, and contributions to the recycling industry.
Surrounded by family, friends, and colleagues from a career spanning 40 years, Litman was presented with a plaque to commemorate his efforts. He now joins an esteemed list of past winners, including his late father, Stan Litman, who earned the same honor from the Gulf Coast Region (GCR) in 2001.
The award has been given every year since 1984.
“When I first received the call, I was humbled and honored,” Litman said. “As time moves on, it’s special when you see your work—especially your volunteer work—recognized by your peers. [The Gulf Coast Region] has been around for a long time and has honored many folks who made significant contributions to the recycling industry over the years. To have your name mentioned as part of that means a lot. It’s nice to have a father and son honored by industry peers. My father passed away a few years ago, but as I said in my speech, I felt like he was on my shoulder. He’d be proud.” Litman added, “It’s a big plaque, and the actual weight of it serves as a metaphor for the significance of this honor.”
Litman stepped away from a journalism and public relations career in 1984 and entered the recycling industry when he began working at his father’s paper and rag recycling company, Daltex Waste Material Co. At the time, Litman said it was known as the scrap business. In 1992, Joel and his brother Craig teamed up with Stan to create Texas Recycling, a family-owned local recycling plant east of Fair Park. Since then, Texas Recycling has grown to almost 70 employees while expanding the company’s focus to include metals and plastics.
In so doing, the company is revered by its peers for being a leader in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for value-added, quality commercial recycling. Along the way, the brothers also established a related company—Action Shred of Texas—in the document destruction sector.
According to a press release from ISRI, Joel Litman has been an active member and leader within ISRI national as well as GCR and ISRI’s Paper Stock Industries Chapter (PSI) throughout his career—going beyond the walls of his recycling facility to serve in any way he could. In addition to serving as a board member for ISRI national, PSI, the Gulf Coast Region, and the Global Recycling Standards Organization, he was PSI president from 2012 to 2014 and ran as a candidate for the ISRI national secretary/treasurer position in 2022.
“Joel Litman exemplifies what it means to be a leader in the recycling industry,” Gulf Coast Region President Nidhi Turakhia of Allied Alloys in Houston said in a recent article in Paper Stock Industries Chapter (ISRI) Newsletter: ISRI. “Not only has he built a successful recycling company with his family members over the past four decades, but every day, he sets an example of what it means to operate with integrity and dedication to his family, team members, community, and the recycling industry.”
Litman thanked the Gulf Coast Region for the honor and everyone who helped shape him over the past four decades.
“I often mention two phrases that I live by,” Litman said. “The first is just showing up. If you show up, you don’t know what’s going to happen just by being there. You meet someone, talk to folks, see something that creates an idea or excites you to participate, or see something that sparks another conversation. People say I’m lucky, but it’s also about grasping an opportunity when it presents itself. The second [phrase] is you get what you give. It’s all about giving back, whether through taking care of people or doing business in the right way. And when you do those things, the rewards come. Forty years is a long time, and I think I’m most proud of the simple fact that I got into this business in the first place—and then kept with it over the years.”
About Texas Recycling
Founded in 1992 by the Litman family, Texas Recycling is a leader in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for value-added, quality commercial recycling. Its Dallas operation fills more than 225,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space. This location brings paper, newspaper, office paper, corrugated cardboard, aluminum cans, and industrial metal recycling to an area in D/FW that did not have this opportunity previously. Texas Recycling believes in delivering uncompromised customer service to its clients and developing strong ties with the community.
About the Texas Recycling Buy Back Center
As the largest family-owned and –operated paper recycling and multi-material buyback center in D/FW, Texas Recycling collects and ships millions of pounds of quality recycled materials to domestic and international consumers each month. The Buy Back Center accepts paper, newspaper, office paper, cardboard, tin scrap, and aluminum cans. The Buy Back Center is open to the public on weekdays near Fair Park and Downtown Dallas, at 1420 S. Barry Ave., Dallas, TX 75223. To learn more call Texas Recycling at 214-357-0262 or visit the Texas Recycling website at texasrecycling.com.