Mr Carus, announced last month that he was leaving Valpak, the UK’s largest packaging waste compliance scheme where his responsibilities included customer relations, the purchasing of packaging waste recovery notes (PRNs) and glass collection. He will join EMR in May and work for three months alongside Mr Mason who is heading to Spain to do an MBA at the University of Barcelona from August.
Colin Iles, Managing Director of EMR, said: “I am delighted to welcome Graeme on board. His producer responsibility expertise, his knowledge of environmental legislation and his experience – most recently as director of operations at Valpak – give him a near-ideal background to realise new business aspirations for EMR and to develop innovative and workable data compliance schemes for end-of-life vehicles and waste electrical equipment.”
Mr Carus said he was delighted to be joining EMR at such an interesting and exciting time. “Regulatory and environmental initiatives affecting the metal recycling sector present many challenges and opportunities.”
Respected
Commenting on Mr Mason’s departure, Mr Iles said: “I would like to publicly thank Andrew for his highly valued and respected contribution to the development of so many aspects of EMR’s business, particularly in the wake of new producer responsibility rules and increasingly stringent environmental requirements. We wish him all the best for the future.”
Mr Mason said that over the 10 years he had been with EMR and Mayer Parry, which was acquired by EMR, he had seen tremendous change within the metals recycling industry. “The industry has moved on considerable with licensing, transfrontier shipment restrictions and producer responsibility.”
He added: “We stand at a point where things could move on well in the future. But, I have some concerns over the way the legislation has been enacted. The Agency spent years licensing us as metals recycling sites, then under packaging they decided we were not recycling.”
Court case
Ironically, Mr Carus will be joining a company which currently is taking legal action in which Valpak is involved. Valpak is one of several parties who are supporting the UK government and the Environment Agency against a claim by EMR that metal recyclers should be seen as recyclers under the packaging waste rules and so be allowed to issue PRNs.
Register for free to comment