DS Smith hires southern European managing director of recycling

DS Smith
Mike Harrison

DS Smith, a sustainable packaging company with headquarters in London, has appointed Mike Harrison as its new managing director of recycling in southern Europe. Reporting to Rogier Gerritsen, head of recycling at DS Smith, Harrison will be responsible for recycling operations across Italy, Iberia and France.

With more than 20 years of experience in the sector, Harrison is rejoining DS Smith from Suez Trading Europe, where he was recovered paper market director. Prior to this, Harrison spent more than five years at DS Smith holding senior recycling roles in Europe and North America, the company states in a news release on Harrison’s appointment.

Based in DS Smith’s offices in Paris, Harrison will bring his experience to the role and is responsible for managing a portfolio of about 2 million metric tons of recovered paper and cardboard for DS Smith and its third-party mill network.

“I am excited to be rejoining the recycling division of DS Smith and to be working closely with customers to drive closed-loop solutions wherever we can," Harrison says. "Recycling is high on both consumer and commercial agendas at the moment, and I know I am joining a company that is well placed to take advantage of the opportunities created by the increased demands we are seeing for paper-based packaging.”

Gerritsen adds, “Mike’s experience will be valuable as we manage new challenges in our industry, not least the shift of more cardboard packaging into domestic recycling streams. As part of our European management team he will play a key role in delivering our strategy to collect and source quality paper and cardboard from both commercial and domestic streams.”