Victorian Food Waste Action Summit
Hawthorn Arts Centre
Tuesday 1st October 2024
Our Panellists
Our Panellists
We are very grateful to the 15 panellists who have come to share their stories and insights to help set the scene for our day of networking, speed workshops and action planning.
Biographies
Food Waste Prevention
Geoff Davis
General Manager
ARECO
Geoff leads the Asia Pacific division of ARECO with a focus on food waste and plastic reduction.
His team’s dedication to innovative nebulisation systems and digital technologies has significantly advanced the sales and availability of fresh products.
Jean Darling
MD & Founder
Cirque Du Soil
With a background as an Architect Jean founded Cirque du Soil a circular waste consultancy and certified social enterprise to address the missing middle in urban waste, focusing on SME to large scale businesses across hospitality, retail, professional services in high street precincts and Multi-Unit Developments.
Dr. Jonathan Middis
Innovation Manager
End Food Waste Au.
Jonathan is a Food Industry expert and Innovation specialist with a knack for turning big ideas into real-world successes.
He loves diving into strategic thinking and solving tough problems, always with a creative twist.
Kim McDonnell
CEO & Founder
Saveful
Kim McDonnell is a visionary leader and innovative entrepreneur who has founded Thankful, an organization that combines philanthropy and business to drive positive, sustainable, and scalable impact.
They developed Saveful, a brand and digital tool that empowers and enables people to save time and money, and cut down on household food waste by making family mealtimes more sustainable.
Victor Barichello
CEO
Empauer
Victor leads the team at Empauer is a leading sustainability consultancy who help companies realize opportunities throughout your business – particularly when it comes to the alleviation of food waste.
In collaboration with the CRC for Food Waste they developed the DIRECT food waste waste management software tool.
Food Waste Rescue
Daniel Parsons-Jones
Food Supply Manager
Foodbank Victoria
Daniel Parsons-Jones is the Food Supply Manager for Foodbank Victoria, the state’s oldest and largest food relief organisation.
Working with over 600 food donors, 500 charities, and 1000 schools, Foodbank helps feed 67,000 people each day in Victoria alone
Issy Hally
Food Donor Coordinator
OzHarvest
Josh Ball
Co-Founder
Farmers Pick
Josh Ball is the Co-Founder Farmers Pick, a company focused on reducing food waste by delivering fresh, imperfect produce directly to homes across Australia.
Farmers Pick has saved millions of kilograms of produce that would otherwise go to waste, while providing affordable, high-quality food options to consumers.
Josh is dedicated to supporting farmers and driving innovation in the fight against food waste.
Melanie Gill
CEO
Helping Hands Mission
Melanie founded Helping Hands Mission in 2007 and recently launched their new food relief facility that is co-located with an Opportunity Shop Warehouse in Airport West.
The Op Shop proceeds directly fund their food rescue and food relief efforts, over five hundred families each week through our Emergency and Material Aid Programs that create a real sense of community support for those doing it tough.
Rachael Terry
Research & Strategic Engagement Lead
SecondBite | FareShare
In a career dedicated to purpose-driven projects focused on social and environmental change, Rachael has experience across several sectors including community, social enterprise and hospitality.
She recently completed a postgraduate qualification in Sustainability at Deakin University, where she focused on the issue of food waste and how a fairer food system can help our planet.
Food Waste Recycling
Cat Phillips
Commercial Manager Organics
Cleanaway / AORA
Cat leads Cleanaway’s National Organics Strategy, with a focus on building an integrated and sustainable Organics value chain, from collections to sales. She is also a Director of AORA the Ausutralian Organics Recycling Association.
Cat has a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) and a Master of Mechanical Engineering….and she also is an elite footballer and ultimate frisbee champion recently captaining Australia to a bronze medal in the world championships.
Phillip Spring
Managing Director
Eco Guardians
Phillip is an environmental advocate and the Managing Director of Eco Guardians, an organization established in 2010 dedicated to promoting sustainable practices and providing intelligent, sustainable, and affordable solutions for businesses seeking to mitigate their environmental impact.
Phillip is an experienced Director with global experience in Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America across many industries, including the Automotive, Packaging, Energy, Health, and Environmental sectors.
Phoebe Gardener
Co-founder
Bardee
Phoebe Gardner is the Co-founder of Bardee. Bardee have a fully operational facility in Sunshine where they transform up to 150 tonnes of food waste per day into protein for animal feed and organic fertiliser for crops and gardens using insects.
Bardee’s technology was the first insect-rearing technology in the world to be certified to produce carbon credits (ACCUs). Phoebe hopes to see Bardee’s technology in every city around the globe, upcycling the nutrients in food waste into high-value agricultural products to support local food production.
Stephanie Salinas
Manager Waste to Energy
Rewaste / YVW
Stephanie is responsible for the management of the ReWaste waste to energy operations.
The Wollert facility was Victoria’s first commercial organics recycling facility. A second facility in Lilydale comes on line in 2025 and between them will process 83,000 Tonnes p.a. of waste to produce green electricity.
She has qualifications in biological science, a Masters in Sustainability and 10 years industry experience in waste, resource recovery and the natural resources sector.
Thomas Fox
Education & Communications Lead
RepurposeIT
Thom has worked in the environmental education space for 15 years in and out of the school system (primary, secondary, and alternative spaces), local governments, NGOs with a strong emphasis on organics recycling.
Thom joined Repurpose It to help community, industry, governmental bodies to strive towards positive environmental, social, and economical outcomes.
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Silver Sponsors
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