Aion, krill harvest giant Aker BioMarine's recycling company, named Omjer Gehrken Hjeltnes as its strategy and business development director.

The new company offers products and services to firms looking to recycle and reuse waste, with hopes to ultimately go public.

Hjeltnes has been managing strategy and innovation within Kjell Inge Rokke-controlled Aker BioMarine since 2019. Now, she is tasked with framing Aion's strategy and business plan, after being instrumental in the early development of the new firm.

Before joining Aker BioMarine, Hjeltnes worked as a management consultant with innovation and transformation consultancy firm PA Consulting.

Runa Haug Khoury, formerly director of sustainability and public affairs at Aker BioMarine, has been named Aion's new CEO.

AION began as the brainchild of an Aker BioMarine employee, and is one of several "circular economy" initiatives at the group designed to reduce the company's plastic waste and production residues.

Through Aion, Aker BioMarine’s plastic and biological waste will be recycled into new products, helping drive it toward a target of becoming a zero-waste company. Aion will also work with companies in Aker BioMarine’s network to reduce their waste.

In July, Aker BioMarine began trading on the Oslo Stock Exchange's Merkur Market, a follow up to a NOK 2.15 billion (€196 million/$225 million) share issue aimed at fueling the company's ambitions to grow in both the consumer and animal feed markets.