Wastequip Hires Kristin Kinder as Director of Research and Waste Stream Sustainability

Wastequip, a North American manufacturer of waste handling equipment, has hired waste industry and environmental consulting veteran Kristin Kinder as its new director of research and waste stream sustainability. In this newly created role, Kinder will serve as the company’s resident expert on waste stream improvements and efforts to drive positive environmental change.

Reporting directly to CEO Marty Bryant and working closely with the company’s marketing group, Kinder will represent Wastequip on key industry panels, spearhead internal and external research efforts, develop industry partnerships and serve as a subject matter expert and spokesperson on issues related to recycling and waste reduction.

Kinder comes to this new role with nearly a decade of waste industry experience. She began her career at Waste Management, where she learned the basics of the business and parlayed her science background and passion for creating positive behavior change into corporate education. While at Waste Management, Kinder guided the company’s successful Recycle Often. Recycle Right campaign during its inception, which focused on creating a culture to make proper recycling a favorable behavior. She spearheaded multiple aspects of the campaign, from synthesizing external research on consumer waste behavior to building a resource library and developing a consumer toolkit and serving as community spokesperson. She also developed the Seattle Think Green Recycling Challenge, a three-year neighborhood competition that inspired Seattle communities to educate each other on the benefits of better waste management practices.

Following her time at Waste Management, Kinder joined ENGIE Insight. Formerly known as Ecova, the company consults Fortune 500 companies on sustainability management, including conducting waste audits for manufacturing, retail, grocery, property management and other industries to minimize waste, boost recycling and divert materials from landfills. Prior to joining Wastequip, she drove the business strategy for ENGIE Insight’s waste consulting as its product manager for waste.

With a strong scientific background but equally comfortable with writing and public speaking, Kinder holds a bachelor of science degree in combined sciences from Santa Clara University, a certificate in environmental law and regulation from the University of Washington and she is a LEED Green Associate. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and has also been a featured TEDx Talk speaker, addressing the need for consumers to rethink their daily use of resources.

“From our corporate involvement and philanthropy efforts to our new product development, Wastequip has always been committed to leading the waste industry forward,” said Marty Bryant, Wastequip CEO, in a statement. “We are creating this high profile, thought leadership role to ensure we remain the leading waste equipment manufacturer with an eye toward the future. Kristin’s deep expertise in expanding recycling efforts and enhancing process efficiencies will make her an attractive addition to many industry organizations and boards, and we believe her involvement will give Wastequip a key competitive advantage, in terms of gaining fresh perspectives and driving our new product innovation.”