As Managing Director, Emma oversees the day to day management of DGrade including product development, sales and the Simply Bottles recycling initiative. Her key focus is ensuring DGrade delivers value to customers by offering high quality, sustainable products and solutions. She is also a key spokesperson and ambassador for the company. 

It’s extremely important to Emma that she personally, along with DGrade, makes a positive impact on the world; she believes that recycling plastic into new products is part of a solution for a greener planet.

She moved to the Middle East in 2005 working for leading retail fashion brands. “Though I do love the fashion industry, the more I learned about the environmental impact of clothing production, the more I wanted to move to a position where I could do something more environmentally friendly” So, in 2017, she left fashion retail to join DGrade, which is the company her husband Kris set-up to provide sustainable solutions for clothing manufacturing. 

Why this field? 

She joined DGrade to make a positive impact in the textile and plastic industries by providing sustainable solutions. Over consumption of textiles and many of the current manufacturing methods are unsustainable. “At DGrade I can help businesses by providing sustainable solutions for uniforms and accessories; we don't encourage purchasing more of anything, but where there is a need for a product we encourage businesses to switch their current purchasing to sustainable production methods,” she says adding, “I am also passionate about education. By raising awareness for sustainable projects with individuals and communities I hope to encourage people to change their behaviour and work towards making a better and cleaner environment for everyone.”

She has helped in increasing the recycling rates in the UAE, through education and awareness by delivering presentations and workshop to companies, universities and via media interviews; and diverting plastic from landfill in a measurable way. She has developed strategic partnerships to implement recycling (RVM, Renie Smart Bins, Nidukki partnership in Bahrain); raised finance through investment deals to build the UAE’s first closed loop recycling plant where Dgrade recycles up to 1 billion PET bottles a year and provided companies with a sustainable solution for their uniform requirements, thus ensuring that polyester is made using less energy, less water, producing fewer carbon emissions and using no oil. 

“There are no specific hurdles in regards to working in the recycling industry as a woman in my experience as compared to any other industry. Research shows that women are more likely to be more concerned about the Environment, Sustainability and global warming issues than men, with stronger pro-climate opinions and beliefs. This should mean that we can make faster changes with more women working in the industry as they want to see results!