As Nexus Circular’s Health, Safety, and Environmental Manager, Katie takes a risk-based approach to managing environmental impacts and workplace safety, finding satisfaction in work that supports circularity. She sees plastics as essential for improving lives and is proud to contribute to efforts that keep landfill-bound materials in circulation. Katie also champions initiatives like “Recycling is Real” to educate about plastics’ environmental impact and believes more young people should explore careers in plastics, an industry she notes is rich with opportunities and often overlooked.
Katie Vorel’s career path took a significant turn when she moved from a role in truck body manufacturing to environmental, health, and safety (EHS) management in plastics, where she had the opportunity to build an EHS program from the ground up. This role sparked her fascination with the plastics industry and its interconnectedness. Later, when she learned about Nexus Circular—a company dedicated to advanced recycling and transforming hard-to-recycle plastics back into reusable products—Katie was inspired to join the team.