Reflections of European local government authorities

Online Webinar - Circular Economy Learnings from Europe: Reflections of European Local Government Authorities

Event Description

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Australia, New Zealand and our Asia-Pacific neighbours can learn a great deal from members of the European Union (EU) where the transition towards a circular economy is already underway. This was an obvious takeaway from our 2023 European Study Tour organised by the Australian Circular Economy Hub and Planet Ark, which derived significant learnings from the Netherlands, Sweden, France and the UK as well as the World Circular Economy Forum in Helsinki, Finland.

In this third instalment of the ACE Hub's Circular Economy Learnings from Europe webinar series, we were joined by two respected local government-focused delegates who were a part of our 2023 European Study Tour, Eloise Lobsey and Roelof Vogel.

Moderated by Planet Ark's Nicole Garofano, the session provided an opportunity to hear Eloise and Roelof reflect on their learnings of European local government authorities (LGAs) from the Netherlands and the World Circular Economy Forum in Helsinki. Our speakers explored the challenges and opportunities identified by LGAs across Europe, discussed what they encountered during our 2023 Study Tour experiences, and reflected on the valuable lessons they learned.

Speakers for the latest 'Circular Economy Learnings from Europe' webinar will include Nicole Garofano, Eloise Lobsey and Roelof Vogel.

Nicole Garofano is Planet Ark’s Head of Circular Economy Development, responsible for leading the ongoing strategic development of the Australian Circular Economy Hub, and a lead author of the Circularity in Australian Business report. For almost 20 years, Nicole has worked in environmental education and action with a focus on waste management and circular economy initiatives. Since 2021, Nicole has been the spokesperson for the ACE Hub’s work driving Australia’s circular economy transition.

Eloise Lobsey is the Program Lead for the Circular Economy at the Hunter Joint Organization. Eloise is passionate about circular design thinking, waste avoidance and local food systems, and enjoys designing and delivering strategic and impactful environmental programs. Having 13 years’ experience in local government both here in NSW, Victoria and the UK, Eloise’s diverse experience has included environment policy; food systems; resource recovery; behaviour change programs; placemaking and land use planning.

Roelof Vogel is a Circular Economy researcher at Monash Business School. Following a career in the global packaging industry, Roelof now focusses his time on circular economy research. He is currently registered for a PhD at Monash Business School and his research interest is in the adoption of CE by small and medium enterprises and the influence of local government. In early 2023 he undertook three months of fieldwork in the Netherlands as part of his research. His qualifications are MSc (Eng), MBA, and M Ind. Relations.