New year, new leadership for Interzero as Jan Kroker appointed Group CEO

Berlin/Cologne. Interzero stands for international “zero waste solutions” – for a world without waste. In a global context, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to utilize cross-border synergies and interlink their business activities. With this in mind, Interzero has established a single, Group-wide corporate leadership team for all of Europe, consisting of a CEO, CFO and CIO. Jan Kroker, Yi Guo and Claudia Wegener are committed to continue bolstering the circular solutions provider's positioning in a competition-orientated European market and further expand Interzero's role as one of the leading international EPR service providers.

“The circular economy should be more than just a national issue. We are creating a consistent global positioning for Interzero to step up the internationalisation of our company, deepen cross-border, interdepartmental collaboration along our value chain and strengthen our position as a leading international EPR system provider. The new Group-wide leadership team will focus on pursuing Interzero's vision of ‘a world without waste’ both strategically and operationally so that we can continue to work with our customers and partners drive the circular economy,” said Dr Axel Schweitzer, Chairman and Owner of Interzero.

Going forward, the company will also focus on implementing sustainable closed-loop solutions as well as saving more and more materials from incineration and conserving resources in its role as an expert in innovative plastics recycling. Digital solutions are increasingly vital to success when it comes to organising efficient closed-loop solutions. With this in mind, we have enshrined the issue of digitalisation in our corporate governance, with Claudia Wegener set to take responsibility for this topic in her role as CIO.

The leadership team at a glance

Jan Kroker, who took over as Interzero CEO in January, was previously responsible for the circular solutions provider’s plastics recycling business. He has a background in the chemicals industry and held senior management roles at KCA Deutag and BASF before joining Interzero.

Yi Guo joins Interzero as CFO from the ALBA Group Asia. After working for DZ Bank and HSH Nordbank (now Hamburg Commercial Bank AG), he moved to the ALBA Group in early 2016. Most recently, he served as CFO of the ALBA Group Asia with responsibility for strategy, finance and legal, and has been part of the Interzero Holding management team since 2023.

Until Yi Guo joins the management team, Peter Vogel will take responsibility for the Group’s finances as interim CFO. He spent more than ten years working for various auditing firms before moving to the ALBA Group's recycling business in 2010, where he served as CFO from 2017 to 2022. Peter Vogel has been a member of Interzero's Advisory Board since February 2023.

Claudia Wegener brings more than ten years of expertise in IT and digital transformation processes. She gained experience at companies including Deutsche Telekom before setting up and managing the successful Lizenzero online shop for packaging licensing from 2019 onwards. In January 2025, she took over as CIO with responsibility for the Interzero Group’s IT infrastructure and all of its digital processes.

Press release as PDF

About Interzero:

Interzero is one of the leading service providers in the field of closing product, material and logistics loops as well as an innovation leader in plastics recycling with the largest sorting capacity in Europe. Under the guiding principle of “zero waste solutions”, the company supports over 50,000 customers throughout Europe in the responsible handling of recyclable materials, thus helping them to improve their own sustainability performance and conserve primary resources. With about 2,000 employees, the company achieves a turnover of nearly one billion euros. According to Fraunhofer UMSICHT, Interzero’s recycling activities could save 1.2 million tonnes of greenhouse gases compared to primary production and 11.1 million tonnes of primary raw materials in 2023 alone. As a pioneer in the circular economy, Interzero is winner of the German Sustainability Award as well as the related special award in the "Resources" transformation field for 2024. For further information, please visit www.interzero.com.