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RWM 2023: 35-under-35 winners revealed

The top 35 rising waste sector stars of 2023 were recognised last week (13 September) as part of the 35-under-35 awards.

The 35u35 winners for 2023 were announced at the RWM show (pictured are those present on the day)

The final list of 35 was whittled down by an independent judging panel from more than 100 entries and announced during the RWM Expo at the NEC, Birmingham.

Organised by letsrecycle.com and sponsored by Grundon, the event heard from Neil Grundon, chairman of Grundon, and Joshua Doherty, editor of letsrecycle.com.

Three of the status holders were chosen as the ‘top three status holders’ and were presented with a bottle of champagne from Mr Grundon to mark their achievement. The three are: Mark Garvey, Whitespace Work Software Ltd; Laura Fisher, FCC Environment; and Sarah Key, WRAP.

(l-r) Joshua Doherty, editor of letsrecycle.com, the top 3 status holders Sarah Key, WRAP Laura Fisher, FCC Environment, and Mark Garvey, Whitespace Work Software Ltd, along with with Neil Grundon of Grundon Waste Management 

Future

Praising the “great success and huge effort” of all the 35-Under-35s recognised this year, Mr Grundon explained that the sector has come a long way since he started out in the early 1990s, and he is looking forward to an “exciting” future for the industry.

Mr Doherty said that he was “blown away” by the quality of the entries on his first year on the judging panel.

The 2023 judges were: Lorraine Milburn – Grundon; Wendy Fail – Northumberland County Council (LARAC Exec); Gurbaksh Badhan – Buckinghamshire Council (NAWDO); and Joshua Doherty – Letsrecycle.com.

Each of the winners below will be emailed a picture, too.

The 35 status holders 2023:

Mark Garvey, Whitespace Work Software Ltd

Laura Fisher, FCC Environment

Sarah Key, WRAP

Jay Reid, Mann Waste Recycling Limited

Evan Gwynne, DaviesScrapp

Martina Beleva, WRAP

Lucy Drake-Lee, Ecosurety

David Payne, Zebra EM

KatievPowell, Resource Futures

Georgios Rovolis, Dsposal

Sam Bowhay, Veolia

Lucas Hargreaves, Recycling Lives

Charlotte Rule, Environmental Services Association

Matt Burnell, Re-Solar Ltd

Hannah Jordan, Reuse Network

Archana Pisharody, Resource Futures

Oliver Peat, Veolia

Darren Forster, Biogen UK

Nafey Bin Afan, Kanect Consultancy

Vrushhabh Jadav, HF Recycle Ltd

Ami Caldwell, Falkirk Council

Ryan Reay, Future Industrial Services Ltd (Part of the Augean Group)

Georgia Smith, Novati

Uzbaig Barlas, Veolia

Rachel Melvin, South Staffordshire Council

Martin Holicky, Matoha Instrumentation Ltd.

David Dyce, Vegware Ltd

Sofia Knowles, Veolia UK

Ashleigh Gautrey, Veolia ES (UK) Ltd

Sarah Cotton, SUEZ Recycling & Recovery

Hannah France, Blue Machinery (Group) Ltd

George Atkinson, Valpak

Tom Richards, Yorwaste

Cameron Leitch, British Metals Recycling Association

Danny Wraxton, Staffordshire County Council

2024

Details of the 2024 round of entries and awards will be announced in the new year, but will once again be taking place at the RWM Expo on 11 September 2024.

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