Dave Kumar joins Ocean Recovery Group as Director of Sustainable Trade & Corporate Partnerships. A national recycling expert, Kumar will work closely with ORG’s corporate clients to ensure compliance and attainability of corporate social responsibility goals. In partnership, Ina Ballik will lead ORG’s ESG efforts as Director of ESG & Sustainability. A skilled sustainability professional with expertise in climate change, carbon trade, carbon markets and waste management, Ballik will oversee the company’s ESG and Sustainability Department - focusing on stakeholder communications and reporting.
Both Kumar and Ballik bring Ocean Recovery Group and its clients a wealth of experience that integrates numerous facets of the recycling and environmental sustainability landscape. Kumar brings over 25 years of expertise in the recycling industry. He previously led Recycling National Accounts at International Paper, one of the world’s largest paper companies; managed the National Safety and Environmental Program at Weyerhaeuser Recycling; and oversaw Weyerhaeuser’s Pacific Northwest recycling programs.
Ballik, based in London, UK, managed her own sustainability company built on 20 years of knowledge in the Carbon Credit and International Standards Certification market. To date, Ballik has worked on hundreds of United Nations framework climate change convention greenhouse gas mitigation projects and international standards certifications in over forty countries and on five continents. Recently, Ballik led an international consortium through the ideation, conceptualization and implementation of a global sector project in India and Vietnam.
"Both Dave and Ina’s depths of expertise in environmental sustainability as it impacts the recycling sector is unparalleled," said Zachary Kirstein, Founder and President of Ocean Recovery Group. “As Ocean Recovery Group’s clients and partners strive to navigate sustainability-focused issues and opportunities, we are delighted that Dave and Ina’s knowledge and experience will help them maximize and communicate leading-edge progress.”
Ocean Recovery Group offers its partners the opportunity to achieve their sustainability goals through both the purchase of ORG’s recycled ocean-bound plastic as well as the purchase of plastic credits. For 2022 alone, ORG’s integrated-recycling operation goal is to partner with clients to collect, recycle or neutralize 12,000 tons of ocean-bound plastic.
