Appointments round-up

GMWDA elects first female chair

Having joined the Authority in 1995, councillor Piddington is the longest serving member of GMWDA and has previously held the posts of senior vice chair and chair of the recycling and waste management operations committee.

She was actively involved in the early procurement stages of the Authoritys contract with Viridor-Laing and has helped promote the development of new facilities over the last five years.

Commenting on the appointment, she said: I am extremely honoured and pleased to be the new chair and I would like to welcome new and existing members onto the Authority. I am looking forward to the new role of leading the Authority at a time when all facilities come online, and when we need to get all our residents to become good and accurate recyclers.”

She added her biggest challenge will be to meet the Authoritys challenges and achieving 50% recycling and composting target by 2015/16.

Remondis strengthens team

Waste management firm Remondis UK has appointed Derek Waddell as business development manager, expanding its team in the north of England and Scotland.

Mr Waddell joins as Remondis looks to expand its portfolio of UK clients, with a particular focus on the oil, gas and petrochemicals sectors. His past experience includes jobs in the chemical industry, having worked at Lothian Chemical Company and Shanks Group.

Commenting on his new position, Mr Waddell said: I am delighted to join the team at Remondis and look forward to working closely with new and existing customers throughout Scotland and the north east of England.

National sales manager of Remondis UK, Phil Thomas, added: This is an exciting time at Remondis UK; weve recently celebrated the one year anniversary of our state-of-the-art Merseyside facility and have won a number of high profile contracts. We are driven to further increase UK business and are pleased to welcome Derek to the team.

Betts Envirometal recruits new manager

UK metals recycler Betts Envirometal has announced the appointment of Steve Withers as general manager of the firm.

Mr Withers, who has 15 years experience in the waste sector, will manage the companys processing plants, as well as implementing an expansion programme targeting wastes including precious metals, which historically have been consigned to incineration.

Prior to moving to Betts, Mr Withers worked at Credential Environmental, which specialises in hazardous waste disposal and tyre recycling. In the role of technical director, he had responsibility for profit and loss across five sites, managing operations, sales and procurement.

Speaking about his role at Betts, Mr Withers said: There is a huge opportunity within the current waste market to recover a value from items generally considered waste and I am looking forward to going back to my industry and adding value for all parties.

Managing director Charlie Betts added: We feel Steve’s in depth knowledge of the waste sector will help Betts Envirometal educate the waste sector into seeing precious metal-bearing wastes as a resource which can be profitably be harnessed, rather than resorting to the traditional routes of landfill or incineration.