Waste Recycling Specialist Appoints New Operations Manager

Axion Polymers has appointed Laura Smith as Commercial Operations Manager at its plastics processing site in Salford following the departure of Steve Bell after 15 years with the company.

Steve, who is taking up a new management role with a leading UK master-batch and additives producer, started working at the Langley Road South site as a polymer colourist in September 2001. He has seen many changes over the years; first under the ownership of Polyone and then since 2006 when Axion acquired the factory for its first end-of-life plastic recycling operation.

Steve was promoted to Commercial Operations Manager in 2012 with full responsibility for technical performance and profitability of the plastic recycling business. He says: “There have been many changes to the process equipment and staff over the years, but the focus has always been on making high quality plastics and giving good customer service. Now that the big changes of the last 10 years are nearing completion the time seems right to move onto a new challenge.”

Laura Smith takes over the top job at Salford following success in developing new markets for separated materials produced at Axion’s automotive shredder waste plant (SWAPP) in Trafford Park.

Laura has been working in commercial and sales roles at Axion throughout its growth from a small start-up consultancy to a large-scale materials recycler. This internal promotion demonstrates the company’s commitment to continued staff development.

Commenting on her new role Laura says: “I am looking forward to the challenge of growing production output and developing new products for our target markets in automotive, electricals and other durable product sectors. There is a great team at Salford with a huge depth of experience and I am sure we can continue as a winning team following Steve’s departure.”

Fulfilling customers’ technical requirements for high-quality recycled polymers is Axion’s key specialism. On-going technical development activities are further supported by Chemical Engineer Dr Pasika Chongcharoentaweesuk and Product Development Technologist Mark Keenan.

Axion Polymers is part of the Axion Group that develops and operates innovative resource recovery and processing solutions for recycling waste materials. The Group works with a wide range of clients within the recycling and process industries on the practical development of new processing and collection methods.