New boss for Bognor's waste recycling

Laura Greenfield-Parker has been promoted by municipal contractor Verdant Group plc to be the business manager for the Arun district.

She is also responsible for street and beach cleansing services. Verdant carries out the roles for Arun District Council following the award of a seven year contract in 2005.

Laura, a Reading University graduate, joined Verdant in April 2005 when she was appointed collection supervisor for its Arun contract.

Two years later, she was promoted to operations manager to ensure residents received a high standard of services. Laura holds professional qualifications in workplace health and safety, first aid, traffic management and road haulage.

Laura, who highlights her strong relationship with the district council and the Verdant workforce, said: "I look forward to the opportunities and challenge that lie ahead, and give Arun residents my promise that I will do my utmost to provide a service of which they can be proud."

She replaces Mick Gumble, the former Arun business manager, who has been promoted as Verdant's third contract portfolio manager.

In this role, he now looks after seven of the company's local authority contracts, including that of Arun.

Commenting on Laura's promotion, Mick said: "I'm pleased her hard work and commitment over the past few years has been rewarded.

"She worked closely with me to develop a high quality service in Arun, and I've every confidence that she has the skills, experience and confidence to improve it still further."

Verdant has made wide-ranging changes to improve the district's recycling rate.

A record recycling rate of 40 per cent was achieved last year.