Tim is a highly respected environmentalist and musician, having worked for organisations including the Greens, Greenpeace, 350.org and others, as well as performing in venues from Woodford Folk Festival to New York’s Carnegie Hall. Tim is the founder and Executive Director of Green Music Australia, served as Communications Director for Christine Milne, has sat on the board of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, and has been published in the Guardian, ABC, Griffith Review, Crikey and elsewhere. Tim founded Canberra’s Buy Nothing Groups, and authored “Living Democracy: an ecological manifesto for the end of the world as we know it”.
The Green Institute

Joel has over seven years of experience in life cycle assessment and resource recovery across industry and academia. Holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering and an Honours in Engineering and Arts (International Studies). His current role is at Icon Water working in a team striving to redefine a water utility as carbon negative bio-refineries that can be a cornerstone of sustainable organic, nutrient and water circularity.
Icon Water

Siwan is a familiar face in the Australian river restoration community, with her work in communications, leadership and on-ground riparian rehabilitation well-known and respected. She enjoys empowering landholders and local communities so that rivers and waterways can be managed confidently, in partnership with nature, such as through the Rivers of Carbon program and The Forgotten River campaign to restore the Upper Murrumbidgee River.
Siwan has a PhD from the Australian National University in public policy, majoring in sociology and administration. After undertaking a Winston Churchill Trust Fellowship in 2008, Siwan established the Australian River Restoration Centre, and has managed over 50 research projects. In 2015 she ran the inaugural Waterway Twinning Management Mentoring Program for the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority, an ongoing initiative that brings together mentors and mentees to work on river and community engagement projects.
Australian River Restoration Centre

Sophia is circular economy expert, university lecturer, diversity advocate and COO of MCi, an Australian technology transforming CO₂ into building materials and industrial products. Sophia’s showcase of MCi’s technology won first place in the Net Zero Technology Centre COP26 Pitch Battle in Glasgow.
In 2022, Ms Hamblin Wang was appointed to the forum of Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum. She is co-founding Director of CO₂ Value Australia, a member of the ACT Climate Change Council and a board member of the Climate Ready Initiative. Sophia is also a Lecturer at the University of Sydney Business School and was awarded Resource Innovator of the Year at the New Materials Summit in Berlin in 2018.
Mineral Carbonation International

Simran is circular economy lead in the Resource Stewardship group at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney. She leads and manages diverse circular economy and product stewardship projects at ISF, with over 11 years of research and industry experience. Simran is project manager for the assessment of benefits and effectiveness of product stewardship in Australia, funded by the Commonwealth Government as well as a principal advisor to the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence. Her research areas are cross-disciplinary, spanning circular economy, industrial ecosystems and networks, competitive dynamics, and technological, structural, and institutional transformation for sustainability, working with industry, local, state, federal governments with a special interest in plastics, packaging and chemical industries.
University of Techology Sydney Institute for Sustainable Futures

Julie is a sustainability strategist, specialising in the application and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She provides strategic advice and analysis across all 17 SDGs, with a particular focus on SDG 12, responsible consumption and production, and its applicability to the textile and fashion industry in Australia.
She is the co-host of a locally produced podcast, Local Environment Heroes, and sits on the board of the Canberra Environment Centre where she helps design and run workshops on sustainability for primary school children.
Julie is a former public servant, with over 10 years of experience in the federal government (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade). She also has private sector experience (trained and worked as a lawyer) and non-government experience (World Vision). Julie holds a Masters in International Development from RMIT and a Bachelor of Law/Arts degree from Deakin University.
Monash Sustainable Development Institute

Kathy Ehmann moved to Canberra and needed a spanner. She went to the hardware store to buy one but thought, “If only Canberra had a tool library like the one in Brisbane.” She began the search for premises and to build a team to make this idea a reality. In 2021, SEE-Change agreed to support a pilot program, and a crowdfunding campaign with Start Some Good raised over $16,000 to launch. Community Toolbox Canberra opened its doors to members in the Spring of 2021 on the grounds of Youth with a Mission in Watson, ACT.
Community Toolbox Canberra

Sandie Parkes is a co-founder of The Green Shed which manages the Reuse contracts at both Resource Management Centres in the ACT. She has worked in and around the sector for over 30 years and aims to promote reuse as the first option in both domestic and commercial waste management.
For many years The Green Shed has adopted a circular economy perspective when striving to lessen the amounts of waste sent to landfill and they have engaged the local community in this journey. Reuse is so often identified with the charity sector, yet The Green Shed operates as a viable business attracting around 20,000 visitors each week and employing over 70 local people. Sandie is keen to share her experiences and demonstrate how our model here in the ACT is a proven concept that could easily be replicated in other municipalities.
The Green Shed

Katherine is a senior government professional and seasoned communicator with more than twenty years’ experience from local through to international levels. With a keen focus on policy, engagement and legislative reform, Katherine leads the development of ACT Government policy positions on waste and recycling matters, including a circular economy and single-use plastics.
Prior to joining ACT NoWaste, Katherine held media and communications roles with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Australian Taxation Office, the United Nations Development Programme and the Victorian departments of Infrastructure and Housing.
ACT City Services

Amardeep is an international waste management and marine litter expert with more than twelve years of experience working with academia, local government and international aid organizations across Australia, the Pacific, the Caribbean, Central America, Africa and Asia. Amardeep leads the APWC practice, managing a team of experienced waste management professionals, as well as in-country project teams, to co-create waste management solutions. Most recently, Amardeep developed a comprehensive data collection methodology that supports a common approach for waste auditing, endorsed and adopted by World Bank (Regional Recycling Network), SPREP (PacWastePlus), JICA (J-PRISM-II), PRIF (Regional Recycling Network), EU- EDF11, Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance and UNE (GEF).
Asia Pacific Waste Consultants

Emma is an experienced educator and school administrator, working to give back to the community. In February 2022, she became Executive Officer at Lids4Kids, teaming up with CEO Timothy Miller, revhead owner of 1950s Holdens with a passion for the environment. Tim founded Lids4Kids as a grass-roots 100% volunteer project in May 2019 after learning that any piece of plastic smaller than a credit card had to go to landfill rather than recycling.
Within months, Lids4Kids had collected millions of plastic lids which they donate to Envision who turn them into mobility aids for children with disabilities, as well as other recycled plastic products.
Lids4Kids now has collection groups in every state, with the vision of a world where all plastic bottle lids are recycled into sustainable products that benefit local communities. Regional Coordinators advocate, educate, inspire and empower schools, industry, government and the community to rescue and recycle.
Lids4Kids Australia

Prior to being appointed Commissioner in 2020, Sophie was a climate scientist at the University of NSW Canberra and a lead author on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, which are used worldwide to develop policies around climate change.
Dr Lewis was named 2019 ACT Scientist of the Year in recognition of her research, particularly on weather extremes and how climate change contributes to events such as bushfires and droughts. In 2015 she was presented with the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) Early Career Researcher Award for her work in climate science.
Office of the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment