Robin Latchem is our new man on board

Recycling International welcomes Robin Latchem as the magazine’s new editorial consultant. He succeeds Ian Martin who has stepped down after having been with Recycling International for more than 19 years.

Robin joins us after five years as editor of Materials Recycling World (MRW), the UK-based trade journal reporting on secondary materials and waste management. But he is a relatively late arrival to the world of recycling as most of his early journalistic career was as a broadcaster with the BBC and then Sky News.

‘I arrived in the heart of this fascinating and exciting sector by chance,’ he says. ‘I’d been involved with early BBC and Sky websites so I took up the offer of managing the digital side of a local government magazine, a sister title to MRW. Soon after, MRW’s editor left and I was asked to help out – it was pure chance but a wonderful opportunity.’

Inspired by the Circular Economy

Robin’s experience and interest in the implications of the new Circular Economy package on recycling policy (with or without Brexit), has now prompted him to become an independent consultant in the UK.

‘I’ve always been struck by how much the UK recycling sector was affected by global trends and always enjoyed my visits to BIR conventions to hear about this at first-hand. It was at those events that I met Martijn and the Recycling International team so it’s an honour to be invited to join them.’

Ex-hippie and football fan 

When he’s not in recycling mode, Robin is a die-hard supporter of AFC Bournemouth, likes cricket, crosswords and crime fiction and is a devoted ‘new’ grandad. As an old hippie, he also likes the rock music of the 1960s and 70s.