Outsourced services specialists, Smart Solutions, has appointed one of the waste sectors most influential industry names to support the growth of the business’s commodities trading offering.
Kevin Thomas, joins Smart Solutions as commodities and technical director with 25 years’ experience in the waste and recycling industry, having previously worked for SCA Recycling, Biffa and Casepak, as well as holding a number of consultancy roles.
The newly created position of commodities and technical director will see Mr Thomas head up Smart’s trading offering, in which the commodities team buys recyclate materials to sell to re-processors in the UK and internationally.
Mr Thomas started his career in the waste and recycling sector working for SCA Recycling, where he held a variety of roles including operations director for the company’s recycling business in the Netherlands. He later worked for the recovered paper company as business development director in the UK, where he project managed the delivery of a SCA’s flagship £15 million MRF development in Southampton.
He also held a key role with one of the UK’s leading waste management companies, Biffa Waste Services, overseeing their recycling and transfer station operations as general manager for their pre-treatment division. Most recently he has been working with family-owned recycling business, Casepak, where as director of MRF operations, he project managed the delivery and start-up of one of the largest and technically advanced MRFs in the UK.
Kevin Thomas said: “It’s a great time to join the well-established Smart Solutions team as the business continues to go from strength-to-strength.
“I’ll be looking to increase the volume of recyclate materials the business currently sells in both domestic and international markets, build relationships with key suppliers and identify new purchase and supply opportunities.
“Smart Solutions is growing, and the potential to develop further the commodities offering is a very exciting challenge. I’ll be using my industry knowledge and experience to bolster Smart’s commodities and consultancy offering in the UK and internationally.”
Currently Smart Solutions Commodities, formerly trading as Econ Global Recycling, supplies recycled materials to a number of international markets.
Mr Thomas will be responsible for overseeing the commodities offering, as well as working with Smart Solutions’ waste managed services clients to advise on industry best practice, material analysis and delivering quality sampling from MRFs.
Nathan Bowles, chief executive officer of Smart Solutions, said: “It’s great to welcome Kevin to the team. He brings with him an impressive breadth of industry experience, which is very important as clients value the deep-rooted industry knowledge and expertise within the Smart suite of services.
“Kevin’s operational experience working in the waste sector has real added value to the services we offer our clients, and our staff too.
“Kevin’s first-hand experience of running MRFs, with a capacity of more than 100,000 tonnes of waste, makes him best placed to advise our clients on how to overcome the day-to-day challenges they face when running their operations.
“It’s an exciting time for the business at the moment. We’re experiencing rapid expansion and diversifying into new sectors. In order to really establish ourselves in the market as a quality provider of outsourced services, we are building a team of experienced and highly respected employees to help drive our name and our business credentials in these sectors. I’m confident Kevin’s appointment will do just that for Smart Solutions Commodities.”
Smart Solutions offers a range of managed services including recruitment, especially in the waste sector, personal development, training, waste management and commodities trading.
The business was established in 2007 and has become one of Wales’ most successful emerging brands, receiving a Welsh “FAST GROWTH 50” award four times, the only business in Wales to do so.