Dive Brief:
- Keefe Harrison is stepping down as CEO of The Recycling Partnership after 12 years in the role, according to a Wednesday announcement. Her last full-time day will be July 31, and she’ll remain on board in a consulting capacity through August.
- TRP has engaged consulting firm Glick Davis & Associates to conduct a nationwide search for the organization’s next CEO. The group expects to announce its new leader “later this summer.”
- “This transition is not a signal of concern or disruption. Rather, it is a well-timed leadership transition from a position of strength — one that allows ample time, care, and diligence to ensure continued success,” Harrison said in a separate email to stakeholders earlier Wednesday. “I want to be very clear: The Recycling Partnership is strong, stable, and exceptionally well-positioned for the future.”
Dive Insight:
Harrison became founding CEO of The Recycling Partnership in 2014. The organization is backed by major CPGs, retailers, packaging companies and others. TRP is perhaps best known for providing grants to fund projects that improve curbside recycling access and boost collections and processing. In a recent Waste Dive interview, Harrison estimated the group has helped support $658 million in recycling system improvements since its inception.
In recent years, TRP has transitioned more of its focus to state and federal recycling policy. This came amid a policy landscape that shifted from voluntary corporate pledges to one where extended producer responsibility requirements began to take effect. Harrison said the organization needed to take a more active role in advocating for recycling policies — such as EPR and other state and federal recycling initiatives — in order to better accelerate change on a national level. That included advocating for the CIRCLE Act, which was introduced in Congress last year and calls for a 30% investment tax credit on private investments in certain recycling infrastructure, phased out over 10 years.
Harrison has testified before Congress to advocate for nuance when crafting policies related to chemical recycling, a suite of technologies that takes plastics down to their molecular building blocks to be used in new products. She has also spoken out about taking immediate measures to reverse instability in the U.S. PET recycling system to prevent further reclaimer closures and compete with cheaper imports.
TRP also collaborates on a range of outside projects, including GreenBlue's work to make polypropylene cups "widely recyclable" under the How2Recycle program earlier this year.
TRP has its share of detractors along with the champions. Sources have told Waste Dive that they questioned the level of TRP’s impact and its direction.
In Wednesday’s stakeholder email, Harrison said: “Together, we’ve helped transform recycling across the country, strengthened local systems, and demonstrated what’s possible when mission-driven partners align around real solutions.”
“Leading this work has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. I am deeply grateful for the trust you have placed in me and for the partnership, collaboration, and shared commitment that have made our work possible,” Harrison said.
What’s next? “I plan to begin with some rest and reflection — a sabbatical with my husband Ryan — before turning toward what comes next. I will remain, without question, The Recycling Partnership’s number one fan,” Harrison said.
