Maite Quinn-Richards is the President of Resource Recycling, a role she has held for just over a year, and one she approaches with the mindset of both a builder and a connector. Her work sits at the intersection of industry operations, policy momentum, and the communications needed to translate complex recycling systems into actionable guidance for municipalities, recyclers, and regulators.

What makes Maite’s leadership especially notable is her focus on integration.  Maite is focused on bringing teams together across different disciplines, as well as bringing industries together to break down their traditional silos.  As the recycling environment grows more complex, driven by evolving regulations, expanding material streams, and heightened expectations for traceability, she is helping Resource Recycling respond with a cohesive platform comprised of publications, policy coverage, and conferences designed to move the industry forward in practical ways.

 

From Television to Recycling – Following the Story to the Source

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Maite’s entry into recycling began unexpectedly. She started her career in television production, working on documentaries for about eight years. The turning point came when a close connection asked her to help with a recycling-focused documentary which would entail following recycling pickups from New York City through a facility in New Jersey, and along the supply chain toward international markets.

That “story” became real-life strategy. She soon transitioned from media to the business itself, learning the operational realities firsthand, contributing to marketing efforts, and eventually joining the company.  Along the way, she earned an MBA, reinforcing her ability to bridge creative communication with business execution.

Over time, Maite built a career across key recycling and materials-market roles, including business development and commodity work at Sims, as well as leadership within a private equity environment focused on recycling-related acquisitions.  Her career path has included involvement with municipal recycling and material processing facilities.  All of these experiences shaped her core leadership belief today that the people closest to the work must be heard, not just quoted.

 

Leadership Challenge – Rebuilding a Team for a New Phase

 

When Maite stepped into her current role, Resource Recycling had an established history of more than two decades of foundation-building by its founder, later evolving through acquisition and operational changes. Her biggest challenge, she says, was rebuilding the team to match the company’s next phase.

That rebuild wasn’t simply a staffing exercise.  It was a cultural and structural one. Rather than keeping teams in separate silos, she set out to create a more cohesive, collaborative operating rhythm where people could work together across editorial, conference production, and subject-matter expertise.

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Her approach includes:

• Hiring and shaping for complementary strengths, not sameness

• Encouraging personalities and skill sets that “fit together”

• Building an environment where the team feels connected to purpose, and to each other

A Conference-Driven Industry Lens – Convergence as a Competitive Advantage

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Resource Recycling’s scope is broad by design. The company serves municipalities through a wide coverage lens spanning organics, metals, glass, and plastic, and also supports industry needs through dedicated coverage and products for policy, electronics recycling/IT asset disposition (e-scrap), and the plastics recycling update space.

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From the conference perspective, Maite has overseen a meaningful shift in the merging of the Resource Recycling conference and the Plastics Recycling conference, plus the addition of a textile recovery summit. This year’s effort brings multiple perspectives into a single forum, which is an approach that she describes as essential.

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Why?  Because teams don’t just need inspiration, they need cross-industry learning. Plastics recyclers, textile recovery operators, and policymakers all face different maturity levels and operational constraints, but they share the same underlying goal of making recycling systems function more effectively and credibly.

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By bringing policymakers into the room with operators, the conferences become more than networking events.  They become translation engines between regulation and real-world processes.

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With thousands of attendees, specifically, over 2,500 this year, these gatherings also reflect Maite’s belief that the industry moves faster when it reduces the “distance” between stakeholders.

 

Why Certifications Matter Now More Than Ever

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Maite views certifications as a major lever for improving trust and outcomes in recycling. While certifications have long existed, she believes the industry is in a new phase where they carry more practical weight because:

• Regulators increasingly reference them in requirements and frameworks

• They standardize expectations for guidance, compliance, and quality

• They create a measurable pathway for accountability

 

In her view, certifications help move policy from intent into behavior—providing guardrails that help organizations compete on performance, not confusion.
 

Industry Trends of Automation, Accountability, and Traceability

 

When Maite talks about what’s changing, she emphasizes that automation and AI aren’t abstract buzzwords.  Rather, they are becoming practical tools shaping sorting, data collection, and component-level understanding.

 

Maite’s core theme is accountability.  As technology improves how materials are analyzed and tracked:

• Recyclers can better interpret what’s coming through the system

• Manufacturers face clearer feedback about what’s in products

• Traceability increases across the chain

• The system starts to generate signals that encourage better design for reuse and recycling

 

For Maite, this isn’t just about operational efficiency, it’s about building a recycling ecosystem where information improves decisions.
 

Plastics, Perception, and the Real Question of System Responsibility

 

There is significant public pressure around plastics recycling performance, and documentaries have brought renewed scrutiny to recycling efficacy.  Maite’s stance is not framed as blame toward recyclers.  Instead, she redirects the conversation toward structure and responsibility.  Recyclers are often positioned as the solution to a materials problem that begins earlier in product design and system design.

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She also highlights the expanding focus within frameworks like extended producer responsibility (EPR), where hierarchy is increasingly emphasized by prioritizing reuse first, then repurposing, and recycling as part of the end of the chain.

 

Her guiding perspective is pragmatic – improving outcomes requires aligning incentives and obligations across the system, not only challenging recyclers’ results.

Engagement by Design – A Remote Culture That Doesn’t Feel Distant

 

Resource Recycling is fully remote, which presents its own leadership complexities. Maite’s approach is built on consistent human touchpoints and shared energy:

• Conferences bring the team together physically and create momentum

• Weekly team meetings maintain rhythm and alignment

• One-on-ones keep coaching and connection active

• Remote “office life” is supported through informal social moments as Maite describes “water cooler” dynamics where people regularly check in with each other

 

Engagement, for Maite, is ultimately about curiosity, with people being awake to the work, actively learning, and bringing energy into the day-to-day.
 

Outside the Industry – Family as the Real Reset

 

When she’s not building editorial products or shaping conference strategy, Maite’s personal time is centered on her family, especially supporting her kids through soccer games, track meets, and ski championships.  Her description of “fun times” is simple and grounded, it’s about being present with the people who matter most.

Looking Ahead – Credibility, Collaboration, and Continuous Improvement

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Maite Quinn-Richards represents a leadership style that is deliberately constructive. She focuses on rebuilding teams, unifying stakeholders, and strengthening the connective tissue between what recycling systems need and what policy and market forces require.

In a sector where technology, regulations, and public expectations evolve quickly, Maite’s guiding strength is clear in that she builds structures that help people learn from each other, while helping the industry act on what it learns.