Prior Exprerience

Kyriakos Parpounas, the founder and Managing Director of PSC, is a professional manager with extensive experience in top management positions for 22 years in the construction and the waste management industries, in Cyprus. He has overseen HR, Quality, Health and Safety and Environmental systems (including certified systems) and has been a CEO in several companies for the last 18 years. He is very familiar with strategy formulation, business processes and controls and modern communication methods.

He holds a BSc honours Degree in Civil Engineering with concentration in Environmental Engineering from the University of Maine (USA) and an MBA in Finance and Real Estate Finance from the TEXAS A&M University. He is also a PhD candidate in the Business School of the University of Cyprus, with specialisations in organisational sustainability and CSR.

In 2005, Kyriakos was chosen by the Cyprus industry to develop the collective EPR scheme for Packaging in Cyprus. He worked with the consultation of Fost Plus from Belgium to design the PRO in Cyprus (Green Dot Cyprus), which was accredited in 2006 and managed the EPR scheme as the General Manager until 2017. During 2007 and 2008, Kyriakos and his team developed for the industry a WEEE EPR organisation (WEEE Cyprus Ltd) and a Battery EPR organisation (Afis Cyprus), which were also accredited. Kyriakos with a team of 17 people managed the three systems as their General Manager, until 2017.

Under his management the three systems grew significantly, (they jointly represent almost 1500 companies) and are the only EPR schemes for the three streams of waste, in Cyprus. During the 12 years of his Executive service for the development of EPR in Cyprus, he gained extensive knowledge and experience in all the aspects of the EPR organisations, including technical, commercial, financial and communication issues. He went through all the stages of the development of the organisations and eventually their growth and maturity. He is considered a prominent figure in the recycling business in Cyprus. He has also been significantly involved in a number of European Programs, including two Life programs with a total investment of 3,500,000 euros.

In his role, he represented Green Dot Cyprus in PRO-Europe and EXPRA, while he still represents Green Dot Cyprus in these umbrella organisations, as the Secretary of the Board and a Consultant.

In 2017 Kyriakos left the executive position at Green Dot Cyprus to work as an independent international consultant on EPR, CSR (ISO 26000 and GRI) and more recently in Data Protection (GDPR). He is also presenting several seminars on CSR, Circular Economy, Plastic Strategy and GDPR and has collaborated with various training organisations, including the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Depending on the type of the project, Kyriakos has an extensive network of associates with various capabilities who join specific project teams to deliver exceptional service to the customers.

Certifications:

GRI Reporting by GRI
Advanced Social Auditing Techniques (ISO 26000) by Austrian Standards
Certified Data Protection Officer by PECB
Certified GDPR Trainer by PECB
Advanced Auditing Techniques by PECB
Business Trainer by the Cyprus Human Resource Development Authority.

Some of Kyriakos most recent projects as a Consultant are:

Expert support for the preparation of a complete training kit for all the Public Sector and Local Authorities in Cyprus on waste management and Circular Economy and as a trainer to train the trainers who will perform the training – Main Contractor, Eunomia with funding from the EU structural funds (December 2017 – date)
Scientific support to EXPRA to develop position paper on the Single Use Plastics Directive under discussion at the EU (June – July 2018)
Consultation and preparation of a Business Plan and an accreditation application for a Container Management System for Pesticides in Greece, on behalf of the European Crop Protection Association (August 2018 – date)
Supporting Green Dot Cyprus to develop a new EPR for non-packaging paper in Cyprus (new provision of the Law) (Sept. 2018 – date)
Discussing the provision of EPR consulting to Governments and the Industry in various countries in association with Waste Free Oceans Foundation
Appointed as an ECOS environmental expert for the development of Environmental Standards