Introducing Chemistry Australia’s emerging leaders

Last year, we established the Emerging Leaders Advisory Council (ELAC) to support the professional development of our industry’s #futureleaders and advise the Chemistry Australia Board on future strategic opportunities for the growth and sustainability of our industry.?

18 people were selected to be part of the first ELAC and we are profiling each of our emerging leaders and their professional experience to celebrate the wealth of talent within our industry.

This fortnight, we’re featuring ELAC member Jeroen Wassenaar , Circular and Renewable Plastics Manager, Qenos:

Leading a capital project that will revolutionise Australia’s circular economy for plastics by more than tripling the existing plastics recycling capacity is what gets Dr Jeroen Wassenaar up each working day.

This project will build and operate an advanced recycling capability to transform low value mixed plastic waste into virgin quality polymers in Australia. These so-called circular plastics can be used in high value food grade packaging applications and the process can go around in circles over and over again.

Jeroen has PhD in Chemistry from the University of Amsterdam and started his career in the chemical industry at Total in Belgium working in catalyst R&D for polyethylene and polypropylene.

The exposure to meeting customer requirements and the potential to solve real life problems motivated him to transition into technical service and marketing roles. This continued when he joined Qenos in 2017 as market segment manager for polyethylene pipe and blow moulding applications.

What are you most passionate about in your working life?

Driving positive change like working on transforming a waste into a high value sustainable product is what motivates me. It requires me to understand the waste industry, logistics, packaging design, lifecycle analysis, contract negotiation, project management, investment economics and of course a healthy portion of chemical engineering.

What problem would you most like to find a solution to in your industry?

Plastic waste pollution is a major global problem and together with global warming represents an unacceptable risk to the preservation of our planet as we know it. Being able to contribute to a solution to end plastic waste and create a circular economy for plastics is what drove me to look at opportunities of how Qenos can play an active role in this through advanced recycling. Qenos recognised the key strategic issue and opportunity to play a central part in advanced recycling and I transitioned in 2021 to my current role of leading the advanced recycling project.

What do you want to be known for??

Hopefully, I can look back one day and say I have contributed to establishing Australia’s circular economy for plastics.

What do you believe are the most important qualities of an emerging leader in your industry?

Leadership is critical in my role as you don’t drive change by yourself. It’s all about motivating those around you and bringing them on the journey, sharing your belief and demonstrating that there is a better way to do things even if there are plenty of risks and a sizeable investment involved. Once you get the buy-in, work on a truly worthwhile cause and remain your own harshest critic, I find that I don’t need to do much to motivate others. They actually start to motivate you – something truly remarkable I think.

What do you do when you’re not working?

I spend my spare time with my family and staying fit through kitesurfing, running, mountain biking and snowboarding.?