2024 Advisory Board
For 2024, Waste Expo Australia put together a select group of industry leaders with the aim of providing advice on creating an event that will meet the waste industry needs. The intent of the Advisory Board is to share knowledge and experience, and to support the team in delivering an event that will bring together the waste community, educate them, and inspire them. The Waste Expo Australia team is extremely honoured to be working with this incredible array of industry professionals.
Mike Ritchie
Managing Director
MRA Consulting
Mike is one of Australia’s leading waste experts. With 25 years’ experience in the environmental and waste sector, Mike combines complex technical expertise and business knowledge. As a former senior executive for Visy, SUEZ and WSN, Mike has become one of the sector’s most recognised strategic thinkers, advising governments and business on waste and recycling.
As MRA’s Managing Director, Mike provides extensive insight into the economics, policy constraints, issues and challenges of Australia’s waste and recycling sector, whilst working toward economically sensible environmental reforms. Mike's goal is to help make waste management economically rational and environmentally sustainable.
Erin Ford
Senior Brand and
Marketing Manager
RepurposeIT
Erin Ford is the Business Development and Partnerships Manager at Repurpose It. She is passionate about working with partners and the community to divert waste from landfill and encourage a more sustainable future. She recently launched a new series called ‘Living with Purpose’ hosted by celebrity garden and sustainability expert Jamie Durie. This series encourages all Australians to take part in the circular economy.
Erin is a highly motivated and enthusiastic marketing, brand, and partnerships professional who has a passion for sustainability and was the winner of the 2022 Repurpose It sustainability award.
She has extensive experience in leading brand partnership activities including working with the Australian Open, The Wiggles, AFL, Cricket Victoria, Victorian AFL clubs, and the Melbourne Marathon.
Amal Jugdeo
BDM
Hitachi Zosen Inova
Amal Jugdeo has served in lead engineering and project management roles for more than 20 years in large-scale industrial processing facilities across all phases of project development from front-end engineering, detail design, start-up and operation. Today, Amal is responsible for leading the development of various waste-to-energy projects in the Oceania market for the local subsidiary of Hitachi Zosen Inova, a Swiss cleantech company providing waste-to-energy and renewable gas solutions.
Daniel Fyfe
MIEAust CPEng NER APEC Engineer IntPE(Aus) FAICD
Divisional Manager
Hanson Landfill Services
Daniel Fyfe has worked in the environment sector and, over the past 30 years, in the waste management industry across Australia and New Zealand.
Daniel has worked on many engineered landfill and waste-related projects. Through industry associations, he has contributed to the development of industry standards with EPA Victoria, and waste management policy with the Victorian Government.
Daniel was a founding Director of the Australian Landfill Owners’ Association (ALOA) at the time of the introduction of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, and went on to chair the national association. He is currently the National Land and Mineral Reserves Manager for Heidelberg Materials in Australia, as well as the Divisional Manager at Hanson Landfill Services.
Daniel is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, Chairman of the Waste Industry Alliance Victoria, and a member of the Waste Management Association of Australia.
He was appointed to the Board of Sustainability Victoria in May 2015 and served for two years. Daniel has been, and is, a strong proponent of the Circular Economy.
Michelle
Mandl-Keating
General Manager, Communications, Customer & Engagement
TOMRA Cleanaway
Michelle is an experienced waste, resource recovery, and sustainability executive with 20+ years of expertise across municipal and state government and commercial services industries where she has been responsible for engagement programs that deliver behaviour change at scale.
Commencing early in her career as a teacher and environmental educator, Michelle’s environmental passions led her to an Australian Government and European Union joint scholarship in Denmark and Wales to study a Master of Environmental Management, majoring in organic agriculture, sustainability and resource management. Hooked on ‘waste’ in the early 2000’s, Michelle has been passionate about resource management and Australia’s journey towards more sustainable practices since.
Today Michelle is known for creating an empowered team within a lean organisation and has demonstrated executive-level representation throughout her tenure. Michelle’s national-level responsibilities ensure TOMRA Cleanaway is recognized as a premier network operator of container deposit scheme services.
Dr Sarah King
Technical Director -
Circular Economy & Resource Recovery
GHD
Dr Sarah King has 20+ years of experience in circular economy (CE), recycling, innovation, policy development, corporate sustainability management, and sustainable industry transition. Sarah invented ‘ASPIRE’, Australia’s first CE matchmaking marketplace, and delivered Australia’s first national CE roadmap.
Prior to joining GHD, Sarah established CSIRO’s (Australia’s National Science Agency) Ending Plastic Waste Mission as Work Package Leader for Waste Innovation. Sarah has delivered research and projects on; advanced (chemical) recycling of plastics, lithium battery recycling opportunities, supply chain options for remote recycling of problematic waste streams. Sarah has expertise in business model innovation and designing CE pilots including Australia’s first trial of recycling disposable nappies using anaerobic digestion. Sarah is also an Adjunct Associate Professor with Swinburne University of Technology.
Ira Malhi
Team Leader – Business Innovation | Business Partnerships
Sustainability Vic
Ira Malhi is a Program Officer with the Infrastructure Investment team at Sustainability Victoria. She is a motivated and goal-driven professional with a decade of experience in Finance & banking and is now channelling her passion towards sustainability and circular economy. She is recognised for building strong relationships with key stakeholders across business, industry & government. She has a consistent track record of delivering results. She is committed to fostering connections, driving sustainability, and making a positive impact on the environment.
Nerida Kelton
Executive Director
Australian Institute of Packaging
Nerida Kelton is the Vice President Sustainability & Save Food, for the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) and the Executive Director for the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP).
She has worked in the Packaging industry for over 26 years, with 24 years working for the AIP; the peak professional body for packaging training and education in Australasia.
As an active lecturer and trainer in the AIP educational portfolio Nerida is committed to helping educate and train packaging professionals in the importance of sustainable and circular packaging design, how to design out waste at the start and believes that it is important to showcase and recognise best practice in these areas. Earlier this year Nerida was awarded her Fellowship for her significant contribution to the packaging industry through training and education across the globe.
Nerida was recently selected by the Federal Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) as one of 8x technical experts for the newly established National Packaging Design Standards working Group and she has also been selected as an industry expert for the Collective Action Group for APCO, which is an advisory group to the Federal Government.
Nerida is also very passionate about educating the industry on the important role that packaging plays in minimising Food Waste and how designing Save Food Packaging can make a difference. She is the lead for the Save Food Packaging Consortium project within the End Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, is published in this area, the lead for the Packaging Working Group on End Food Waste Australia and was the packaging representative on Australia’s National Food Waste Strategy Steering Committee.
Sally Williams
Sustainable Sally
Sally Williams – Sustainability presenter and one of Australian consumer’s most trusted faces.
Sally made her career change away from the Brand Power media platform in 2017/18 and has placed significant investment to ensure her sustainability profile as Sustainable Sally is communicated to Australian and international audiences. A passionate change maker Sally has brought her trusted audience with her and retained the informative and credible image she had established during her time on TV.
Today Sally engages with some of Australia’s most innovative businesses to support their sustainable initiatives and eco-friendly brands. A trusted advocate within the sustainability sector Sally is the conduit between B2B and B2C and works collaboratively as presenter, MC, moderator, educator and motivator across all media platforms.