Advisory Board
Alexandros Andreoulis
Public Group is the leading omnichannel retailer in Greece & Cyprus, that brings together diverse product categories (tech, home appliances, culture) under two brands, Public & MediaMarkt.
Alexandros Andreoulis is Public Group’s Last Mile Associate Director. He has been working for PG in Athens since 2021, working on issues as recycling of domestic appliances, handling of used and damaged products (B Stock) and waste management.
Michael Kuhndt
Michael Kuhndt is the Founder and Executive Director of the CSCP with more than 20 years of experience in the fields of international co-operation, development and sustainability.
He has managed impact driven programmes for numerous multinational companies, ministries, European and UN organisations in the fields of strategy development for sustainable supply chains and circular economy, sustainable lifestyles, upscaling of sustainable business models and triple bottom line innovations.
He has worked with organisations such as UNEP, UNIDO, Worldbank, ILO, the European Commission, European Environment Agency, World Economic Forum, World Business Council on Sustainable Development, the CCICD, GIZ, the Global Reporting Initiative, the Global eSustainability Initiative, the Wuppertal Institute, triple innova and various other national and international initiatives and networks.
In addition, he implemented programmes for numerous multinational companies including the European Aluminium Association, Rewe Group, Metro Group, REAL, PUMA, Henkel, Clariant, Nestlé, Canon, EMI, Hewlett Packard, Nokia, Matsushita, Motorola and Deutsche Telekom.
He is member of various international boards and expert groups and has published a range of interviews and articles.
Michael Kuhndt studied chemical engineering and environmental management and policy in Germany, Sweden and the USA.
Carsten Waldeck
Carsten Waldeck, CEO and Founder at SHIFT GmbH
Carsten Waldeck a designer, philosopher and inventor from Hessen/Germany. He is also the founder and visionary behind the SHIFTPHONE and other sustainable technologies and companies. With the m-series in 2016, SHIFT introduced the most modular and sustainable smartphone ever built as well as “Universal Computing”.
The main goal of SHIFT as an investor-free 100% social business is to maximize purpose and values, not profit. To do as much good as possible, while doing as little harm as possible on the way.
Waldeck received his Diploma in Communication Design from the HS Darmstadt (hda) in 1999 with his thesis “iWorld”, that set the path for Smartphones, Social Networks and mobile Internet as we know it today. He also studied computer science and philosophy in Marburg and worked as a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute in Darmstadt in the area of “Mobile Information Visualization” and wrote scientific publications about his Invention “Liquid Browsing” and other Interaction Innovations.
Carsten loves people, great design, music, sustainibility and social justice from the bottom of his heart.
Korrina HEGARTY
Korrina HEGARTY Environment Policy Director, APPLiA – Home Appliance Europe
APPLiA is the trade association representing home appliance manufacturers in Europe. APPLiA has 25 Direct Members ranging from Arcelik to Whirlpool and 26 National Associations across Europe. Products covered include small (toasters, coffee machines etc.), large (washing machines, tumble dryers etc.) and home comfort appliances (airco, boilers etc.).
Korrina Hegarty is APPLiA’s Environment Policy Director and has been part of the APPLiA team in Brussels since 2007. She leads the team working on environmental and sustainability issues relevant for the home appliance sector, including circular economy, resource efficiency, waste management and chemicals. She has been instrumental in leading advocacy campaigns for the Association in the past years on E-Waste, Ecodesign and Energy Labelling. She has been working on WEEE issues since she started with APPLiA and has a vast range of expertise on the European WEEE policy and national implementation challenges.
Dr. Tom Voege
Dr. Tom Voege is Director Public Policy and EU Representative in Brussels for GRS Service GmbH. He focuses on Circular Economy, Decarbonisation, Sustainable Development, Climate Action, Critical Raw Materials, and Battery Collection and Recycling. With 20+ years work experience, he had previous roles for the UN, the OECD, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and EUCOBAT; in addition to positions in strategy consulting and research/ academia. He is a University of Southampton Engineering and Environment MSc and PhD Alum.
Raphaëlle Hennekinne
Raphaëlle Hennekinne is Director for Sustainability Policy at DIGITALEUROPE, the leading trade association representing digitally transforming industries in Europe.
Prior to joining DIGITALEUROPE in 2020, Raphaëlle advised tech and manufacturing companies at the public affairs consultancy NOVE.
She practiced law as an attorney for five years in Paris where she assisted clients on environmental and economic law issues.
Raphaëlle also completed several internships in law firms and organisations such as Carnegie Europe or ClientEarth.
She holds a Master’s degree in EU law from the University of Paris 2 Assas.”
Prof Colin Fitzpatrick
Prof Colin Fitzpatrick is Head of Department and an Associate Professor in the Department of Electronic & Computer Engineering at the University of Limerick, Ireland.
His research interests cover a range of topics in the area of technology and sustainability including the Circular Economy, WEEE Management, Electronics Repair & Reuse, Electricity Demand Management, Conflict Minerals, Planned Obsolescence, & Environmental Sensing. He has published widely in these fields and has a h-index of 30 and an i10 index of 63 Over the past 15 years he has managed over €5.5m in research projects focussing on these areas for agencies including the European Commission (FP7, H2020, DG Energy, DG Migration & Home Affairs), The Irish EPA, Enterprise Ireland, EIT Raw Materials, Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland, Circuleire, and others.
His teaching areas include Sustainable Life Cycle Engineering, Electronics & the Environment, and Energy Demand Management.
He has been a member of the International Program Committee for Care Innovation in 2014 and in 2018 and for Electronics Goes Green in 2016 and 2020. He was a member of the organising committee for the International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology from 2012 to 2015 and he hosted the UNU E-Waste Academy for Scientists in Limerick in 2016 and 2022.
He was conference Chair for the Product Lifetimes and the Environment (PLATE) conference in 2021. https://www.plateconference.org/plate-2021-conference/
Vanya Veras
Vanya Veras is a multinational, multicultural environmental economist of Greek and English parentage with over 20 years’ experience in waste management legislation, practices and systems. She has been Secretary General of Municipal Waste Europe since early 2012; the association represents municipalities and public responsibility for waste. In 2017, Vanya moved to Malta to continue working for Municipal Waste Europe and in 2018, decided to bring a pioneering green infrastructure system for hot, arid climates to the Maltese market with her company, VIVACITY Ltd. In 2007, after eleven years in Brussels working on environmental policy, Vanya joined Coca‐Cola Hellenic in Greece as Environmental Affairs Manager. She then worked for Mayor of Piraeus for two years as special advisor on waste management, leaving this post and Greece for Brussels at the end of 2012. With the benefit of this combined experience of the waste industry, the producer and the local authority, Vanya Veras helped to guide municipalities and their waste management companies in cooperation with Brussels stakeholders to shape the new legislation which now works towards achieving a circular economy and the ambitious goals of the Green Deal and the UN sustainability goals.
Eric Ruyters
EUCOBAT is the European association of national collection schemes for batteries. EUCOBAT members strive for a better environment by collecting ever more used batteries and by recycling them ever better. EUCOBAT members ensure to organize the collection, repurposing and recycling of used batteries as easily and efficiently as possible.
In September 2020, Eric joined EUCOBAT, and supported the Policy Working Group of EUCOBAT on public affairs and strategic activities. Since he started at EUCOBAT the new Battery Regulation has been published and he has been fully involved in the process of the new Battery Regulation, both on an European level with EUCOBAT and EU Member States and on a national level as director of Stichting Batterijen, the PRO for portable batteries and director of Stichting EPAC, the PRO for e-bikes batteries in the Netherlands.
Before joining EUCOBAT and the national PRO, Eric has a long industrial experience in the field of Consumer Electronics with Canon as European Sales Director and as Country Director of the Netherlands. In the field of batteries, Eric was General Manager of Varta Consumer Batteries Benelux, in which he also was chairman of the board at Stichting Batterijen in the Netherlands, and director of the board of Bebat in Belgium.
Since November 2023 Eric has been appointed the Secretary General of EUCOBAT to support all their members across Europe with the implementation of the new Battery Regulation.