The National Bed Federation (NBF) has appointed Tom Williams as its new sustainability and circular economy lead, a position created to deliver the NBF’s broad sustainability agenda.

Tom will be instrumental in supporting both bed manufacturer and supplier members become more sustainable businesses and helping the NBF meet its goal of 75% of new mattress sales diverted from landfill by 2028. He will oversee projects on the NBF Green agenda, including the recently launched Pledge for Our Planet and the about-to-be-launched ecodesign assessment toolkit.

Originally from Swansea but now living in Leeds, Tom joins the NBF from ASDA, where he worked in the sustainability team for three and a half years. Since getting his master’s degree in environmental conservation and management over 10 years ago, Tom has also worked for a timber door designer and importer and held various other sustainability-related roles.

Jessica Alexander, NBF executive director, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Tom to the NBF team to help us support members on their sustainability journeys and spearhead much needed industry collaboration in making progress. We know our members are all at different stages and will need different types of support.

“Having Tom on the team will help us identify those and respond. While business attention is understandably focused on the immediate challenges of rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, climate change is not going to go away and, actually, measures taken to address it can both save money and create future business resilience and even income streams.”