New director for Sustainability Victoria Resource Recovery Group

Matt Genever has been appointed as the new director of Sustainability Victoria’s (SV) Resource Recovery Group, commencing on 2 July.

It will not be his first time working for the organisation, having led many of its key strategies, waste programs and recycling programs between 2008 and 2014. He is currently Managing Director of strategic environmental consultancy Reincarnate and was the inaugural CEO of Tyre Stewardship Australia.

Sustainability Victoria CEO Stan Krpan said Genever has led a terrific career, with a focus on market development, strategy and policy development and delivering effective infrastructure to the resource recovery and waste sectors in business and government.

He said Genever’s executive experience in government, consulting and product stewardship, along with his collaborative leadership approach and proven ability to deliver results, will help to further build Sustainability Victoria’s stakeholder relationships across industry and government.

“I am delighted to be working with Matt again, given his industry experience, business acumen, profile and thought leadership in the resource recovery sector,” Krpan said. “Matt has a particular passion for developing new markets for products and materials that can be hard to recycle.

“I share his view that Victoria, indeed Australia, has enormous potential to develop new resource recovery capacity for traditional markets like plastic and glass, and new ones like e-waste, food organics and garden organics so we reduce the amount of material that goes to landfill.”

Matt Genever.

Genever said it is an exciting time to re-join Sustainability Victoria, noting, “Every industry has been through the same challenges that the recycling sector is experiencing now. It is difficult, but the right investments and improvements should ultimately build resilience and a more sustainable sector.

“Rather than just throwing away waste left over from industrial, commercial or domestic settings, we need to encourage its re-use so more value is obtained as it moves through the economy.

“This circular economy is about building strong domestic markets for waste, which will give it a financial value and develop those opportunities.”

Genever will replace Jonathan Leake, who became Director of SV’s Business and Built Environment group last month.

Top image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/3dmentat