• Carles Salesa has voluntarily stepped down from his position as director of the Maresme Waste Consortium and its operating brand, Maresme Circular, to embark on a new venture promoting his own consulting and engineering project

Industrial engineer Jordi Pons is the new director of the Maresme Waste Consortium and its operating brand, Maresme Circular. Pons, who until now was the manager of UTE TEM, the concessionaire of the Maresme Integral Centre for Waste Recoveryr, took over the management of the entity this week after a selection process in which six candidates were evaluated.

Experience and continuity

The new director has extensive experience in the management of waste treatment infrastructure: between 2016 and 2023, he was the managing director of TRARGISA, the municipal company that manages the energy recovery plant in Girona. His in-depth knowledge of the Maresme Integral Centre for Waste Recovery and the work of the Consortium—gained during his time at UTE TEM—places him in a key position to ensure the continuity of the current model and, at the same time, open a new era of progress in innovation, sustainability, and efficiency in waste management.

Jordi Pons, new director of Maresme Circular / Marga Cruz

His appointment comes at a strategic moment for the organization: the finalization and development of the Centre’s future Decarbonization Plan—which aims to make the future facilities a benchmark in the new paradigm of decarbonization and optimization in waste management—and the promotion of realistic and transformative circular economy projects for the region. “It is a responsibility and an opportunity to continue making Maresme a benchmark in sustainability and the circular economy, both from a technical perspective but also one that is closely linked to the region,” said Pons upon his appointment.

25 years of transformative leadership

Carles Salesa has voluntarily stepped down from the management of the Maresme Waste Consortium and its operating brand, Maresme Circular, to start a new phase promoting his own consulting and engineering project.

Carles Salesa, director of Maresme Circular for 25 years / Marga Cruz

During his years at the helm of the organization, Salesa has been a key figure in the transition of the region’s waste management model, leading landmark projects both locally and internationally. He has promoted the Maresme Waste Prevention Plan and the Mataró-Maresme Circular Park, a pioneering infrastructure that aims to promote the repair and reuse of materials and products to reduce waste production. Both projects exemplify the strategic change of direction that Salesa has guided to steer Maresme Circular and the Maresme Waste Consortium towards the promotion of a comprehensive, realistic, and practical circular economy in the region.

One of the most notable contributions of the now former director has been the creation of the environmental education program ‘Un volt als residus’ (A tour of the plant), which has already been attended by more than 90,000 people and has turned the waste plant into a pioneering site for learning with guided tours that, since 2022, include an immersive experience with virtual reality glasses to raise awareness of the importance of reducing waste generation.

His career has been marked by overseeing the renovation of the facilities at the Maresme Integral Centre for Waste Recovery within the framework of the 2010 Regional Plan for Municipal Waste Management Infrastructure of the Catalan Government, which forms the current waste treatment plant designed to reduce environmental impact and optimize resources. In recent years, he has also worked to lay the foundations for the Centre’s future Decarbonization Plan.