OARA’s annual industry expo reflects the changes and progress happening across the auto recycling sector.
As you read these words, the OARA’s 2026 Convention and Expo will be upon us. After last year’s event in Niagara Falls, the Convention returns to Markham and the Hilton Toronto/Markham Suites at 8500 Warden Avenue in Markham, Ont. Many aspects from last year’s event have returned for 2026, including a visit to a local auto recycling facility.
We’ve seen that this represents one of the best ways that our members can learn from others and see first hand how other facilities operate, while also providing great outreach for other stakeholders including insurers, vendors and regulatory bodies, such as OMVIC.
Roundtables resonating
We’ve also found that the stakeholder roundtable discussions we’ve hosted prior to officially opening the convention have also resonated well with attendees and have proven to be a great opportunity, to not only generate conversations, but see how the industry can come together and collaborate on various topics going forward. In 2026, our focus is on emerging issues impacting auto recyclers. For us, a key part of these events is engaging with key stakeholders, including insurers and repairers so they can share with us the challenges and opportunities in their sector of the market and we can share ours with them–the ultimate goal being to forge closer ties and create outcomes that benefit all of us and advance the circular economy.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been the hot topics over the last few years, and at the Convention we placed an emphasis in not only have keynote sessions on the topic, but framing it within a macro-economic context for auto recyclers, instead of how it impacts one specific area such as claims, parts distribution or inventory management.
While trade issues and tariff disputes continue to be a major topic and challenge for the North American automotive industry (including recyclers), having our colleagues from the ARA in the U.S. coming on masse to our event recognizes not only how the OARA Convention has grown in scope and prominence within a North American context, but how collaboration and working together on both sides of the border is helping our sector move forward.
Our trade show continues to expand as well, and we’ve getting more requests not only from vendors across Canada and in the U.S., but increasingly internationally, to come and demonstrate their products and services, as well as meet with ARC and OARA members.
International awareness
The auto recycling facility visits are also striking a chord, not only with our members, but also those attendees from the U.S. and other countries. With ARC being the leader and co-host for the International Round Table (IRT) on auto recycling, there is a greater sense of awareness internationally about what we’re doing here in Canada, while at the same time we’ve also seen the IRT continue to strengthen, to the point that today, more than 40 countries have participated in IRT events.
While our overall goal is to keep driving results for recyclers, we understand that this requires focusing on both shorter and longer-term objectives. We’ve found that while it is important that auto recyclers have a voice and their concerns are properly represented at both a regional and national level, we also need to be open to working with our counterparts in other countries, such as the affiliations we have with ARA in the U.S. and internationally through the IRT. We’ve found that by coming together, sharing ideas and observing what is happening in other parts of the world, there can be real benefits for our industry and our members back home. That being said, there needs to be a case in implementing a specific idea or initiative, and it has to make sense for us and our members, though in the longer term context, it has been consistently proven that there is strength in numbers.
Laying the groundwork
On a final note, I wanted to mention Steve Fletcher and the incredible job he and the association has done in laying the groundwork for what we had today. While we celebrated Steve’s official retirement at the 2025 OARA Convention in Niagara Falls, he continues to work with us as an industry ambassador and consultant, and we welcome his ongoing support as we continue to focus on moving this industry forward and serving the best interests of our members.
This article originally appeared in Autosphere Magazine February 2026