Former ESA chair joins OPRL as Jane Bevis stands down

Dr Davies will replace Jane Bevis, who announced earlier this year that she is stepping down from the role.

Dr Davies is the non-executive director and chair of several public bodies, advisory bodies, and trade associations. He also has held a number of waste roles, including chairman of the Environmental Services Association (ESA) between 2016-2018, and also chief executive of hazardous waste firm Augean, where he resigned in 2017.

He was also appointed to the Environment Agency’s non-executive leadership team in 2021, by then environment secretary George Eustice.

Speaking about his new role, Dr Davies remarked: “As a member organisation founded to tackle sustainability challenges in packaging, OPRL is uniquely positioned to elevate collaboration. Customers trust our technical advice on recyclability, while consumers rely on our label.

“As a member organisation born out of a desire within retail to address the sustainability challenges around packaging, OPRL is uniquely placed to take collaboration to the next level. Customers trust our technical advice on recyclability, while consumers know that our label can be trusted.”

OPRL was launched in 2009 as a not-for-profit limited by guarantee as part of the British Retail Consortium, the trade association for UK retailers. It says its labelling system, which uses the ‘recycle’ or ‘don’t recycle’ label on packaging,  takes account of the “whole recycling process”, from council and in-store collections to sorting at material recycling facilities.

‘Right person’

Reflecting on her tenure, Ms Bevis said: “Since 2009, OPRL has grown from around 25 founding members to nearly 800 companies all around the packaging value chain.”

She added: “I am enormously proud of what we have achieved and am certain that Stewart is exactly the right person to take OPRL on to further success. His blend of leadership experience in commercial operations in the resources sector, and a deep knowledge of the politics and policy development in resource efficiency and sustainable packaging will be of enormous value in setting out OPRL’s strategy.”

Defra first set out its intention to implement mandatory labelling to indicate recyclability from 2026 in a consultation response published in March 2022 (see letsrecycle.com story).