Jacob Hayler is the Executive Director at the Environmental Services Association – the UK’s trade association for the recycling and waste management industry.

An economist by profession, Jacob was appointed ESA’s Executive Director in 2015 and has guided the organisation through a period of seismic policy shifts that will have a profound effect upon all in the recycling industry, as well as overseeing the development of a sector-leading net-zero carbon strategy in 2021.

The ESA has more than a hundred members which, combined, generate annual revenues of nearly eight billion pounds as well as employing more than 44,000 people in the UK – serving 17 million of us every day. Jacob is the principal representative for ESA members with Government, NGOs and industry stakeholders and is instrumental in ensuring that emerging policy continues to drive real-world recycling performance and a more circular economy.