Simon Upton, Co-chair
Director, Environment Directorate, OECD

Mr. Upton is responsible for the Environmental Performance Reviews of OECD member countries, the economic analysis of policy instruments used to improve environmental outcomes and a wide range of work related to water, waste, biodiversity, climate change and chemicals. Mr. Upton played a key role in the development of the OECD’s Green Growth Strategy. 

Ryutaro Yatsu, Co-chair
Vice-minister, Ministry of the Environment (MOE), Japan

Dr. Yatsu was appointed Vice-minister, Ministry of the Environment (MoE), Japan, in July 2013.
Prior to his appointment, Dr. Yatsu served as MOE’s Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs in 2012 and Secretary-General, Minister’s Secretariat in 2010. His initial assignment with the Government of Japan dates back to 1976 at the Environment Agency, Japan.

Tomoko Ukishima
Parliamentary Vice-Minister for the Environment (MOE), Japan

Ms. Ukishima was appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Environment and Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Cabinet Office, Japan, in 2013. Prior to her appointments, Ms. Ukishima served as Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and Member of the House of Representatives, Chairman of Policy Research Council on Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2012.

Shardul Agrawala
Head of Division for Environment and Economy Integration, Environment Directorate, OECD

At the OECD since 2002, Mr. Agrawala has previously served as Senior Advisor to the OECD Secretary General, and as Senior Economist on climate change. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University and has previously served as Co-ordinating Lead Author (CLA) for the Fourth and the Fifth Assessment Reports of the IPCC.

Stéphane Arditi
Senior Policy Officer, Products & Waste, European Environment Bureau (EEB)

Since joining EEB in 2009, Mr. Arditi has been in charge of product and waste policy, where he monitors the development of legislation and economic instruments at European level to support a transition towards a circular economy and a zero waste society. He has an educational background in three areas: urban geography, philosophy and environmental management, with 10 years of experience in the automobile industry.

Shruti Rai Bhardwaj
Joint Director, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, India

Ms. Bhardwaj has more than 10 years of professional experience and specializes in the fields of environmental policy design & coordination, multilateral environmental conventions and multilateral funded programme management. She has worked in various environmental sectors including Hazardous waste management. Currently she is working with in the Hazardous Substance Management Division at the Ministry. She is responsible for implementation of various regulatory provisions pertaining to management, handling and transboundary movement of hazardous and e-waste in India. In addition, she is involved in the implementation of India’s obligations under the Basel Convention. 

Peter Borkey
Principal Administrator, Environment Directorate, OECD

Mr. Borkey is leading OECD work on waste management and resource productivity, with a strong focus on sustainable materials management, nanowaste and economic instruments for waste management. Prior to this, Mr Börkey led the OECD’s co-operation with countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus in the area of water management, as well as the work in the framework of the OECD Horizontal Water Programme focusing on the financing of water supply and sanitation in developing countries.

Scott Cassel
CEO and Founder of the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI)

Mr. Cassel has over 30 years of experience in addressing and advising on waste management issues in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Prior to founding PSI in 2000, he served seven years as the Director of Waste Policy and Planning for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. Mr. Cassel holds a master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Dispute Resolution from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in Geology and Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ana Durquety
Technical Department Manager, FEDEREC (Federation of French Recyclers)

Ms. Durquety joined FEDEREC in 2011 as a project manager in charge of paper, board and plastic issues as well as several EPR schemes. She holds a Master’s in environmental management projects and has previously worked at ERDF (Électricité Réseau Distribution France). 

Francisco Gomez Montes
Director of Environmental, Sectoral and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Colombia

Mr. Gomez holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Systems at the University of Edinburgh in the UK. He has extensive experience in engineering, mainly in the development of technical and environmental projects.

Garth Hickle
Product Stewardship Team Leader, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), USA

Mr. Hickle has been with the MPCA since 1996 and is responsible for implementation of EPR programs for electronics, rechargeable batteries and paint. He is a Board Member of the Global Product Stewardship Council as well as Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI). He has published articles in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, the Journal for Cleaner Production, Corporate Environmental Strategy and Environmental Quality Management. He holds degrees from the College of Wooster, Vermont Law School and Hamline University and is a Doctoral Candidate in Industrial Ecology and Sustainability at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Klaus Hieronymi
Global Resource Efficiency Strategies, Hewlett-Packard

Mr. Hieronymi is responsible for HP’s global strategies for a resource efficient and circular economy. He mainly focuses on the role of producers take back / recycling of electronic goods and is leading HP’s global activities regarding the Basel Convention.

Reiji Hitsumoto
Director, Office for International Environmental Strategies, Japan

Mr. Hitsumoto has worked in many different departments at the municipality of Kitakyushu, including the Industrial Waste Management Division, the Environment Bureau, the Sewage Bureau and the Environmental Pollution Control Bureau. He has also worked at the the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) on the Solid Waste Management in Asia project.

Shelagh Kerr
President and CEO, Electronics Product Stewardship, Canada

Ms. Kerr has extensive experience in government and public affairs and environmental stewardship with a BSc from the University of Ottawa. As President of the Electronics Product Stewardship, she has been instrumental in establishing a national operational programme to recover electronic products, replacing the need for 10 separate Provincial programs. Ms. Kerr has also worked for Coco-Cola and the Technical of Grocery Products Manufacturers of Canada.

Hideaki Kikuchi
Councilor of the Environment & Quality Public Affairs Office, Environment & Quality Center, Panasonic Corporation

Mr. Kikuchi was appointed Chair of Industrial Waste and Recycling Management Committee for Electrical and Electronic Industry Associations in Japan (JEMA, JEITA, CIAJ, JBMIA) in April 2014. He has also served as Member, Working Group on Waste Management and Recycling, Committee on Environment and Safety, KEIDANREN since 2012

Baptiste Legay
Head, Waste Prevention and Management Policy Division, Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, France

His current work focuses on the management of the 14 French EPR schemes, the French Waste Prevention and Waste Management Plans, and on the enforcement of French legislation on waste treatment sites. Previously, Mr. Legay was part of the EU negotiating team for the UN climate change discussions from 2007 to 2011, on behalf of the French Ministry of Ecology and of the European Commission. He specialises in strategy and mitigation actions.

Reid Lifset
Associate Director, Industrial Environmental Management Programme, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University

Mr. Lifset is a Resident Fellow in industrial ecology and Editor-in-Chief of Yale's Journal of Industrial Ecology. Mr Lifset is also a member of the governing council of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE). His areas of research focus on the application of industrial ecology to novel problems and research areas, the evolution of extended producer responsibility (EPR), and the characterisation of global metal cycles. Mr Lifset graduated in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in management at Yale University.

Cecilia Mattsson
Senior Advisor, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Before joining the EPA in 2004, Ms. Mattsson has worked as a community organiser for the Clean Water Action in Denver, as a research assistant at Dalarna University Colleler in Sweden and as a field work assistant at the Swedish Agricultural University. She has an MSc in Agricultural Engineering from the Swedish University of Agriculture and a PhD in Environmental Sciences from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.

Atsushi Ohira
Environment Manager of Coca-Cola, representing the Japanese Food Industry Association

Mr. Ohira is involved in the legislation of the Packaging Recycling Law of Japan as Environment Manager of Coca-Cola (Japan), in the first review of the Law as Planning/Research Manager of Japan Packaging and Containers Recycling Association and as Executive Director of Japan Soft Drink Association, and in the current second review of the Law as Senior Adviser of JSDA. He wrote a book “Record of Legislation and Amendment of Packaging Recycling Law”, and his published articles include “Analysis of EPR in Packaging Recycling Law”, “EPR in the U.S.A.”, “Packaging Recycling System in Europe”, and “Deposit Refund System Overseas”.

Andrew Prag
Policy Analyst, Environment Directorate, OECD

Andrew has been working at the OECD for four years and has worked on a broad portfolio of environment issues including international climate negotiations and trade policy in addition to EPR. He has an MSc in environmental technology from Imperial College, London, and previously worked in the energy sector with Shell.

Joachim Quoden
Managing Director, EXPRA

Mr. Quoden has extensive experience in packaging waste management, dating from 1992 when he spent 4 months in the German Federal Ministry of Environment working on packaging issues, including the German Packaging Ordinance. From 1993 to 2006, he worked with Der Grüne Punkt - Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD), where he was appointed head of International Affairs in 2001. Between 2001 and 2013, he also became Secretary General and later Managing Director of PRO EUROPE, the umbrella organisation of 35 packaging recovery organisations. Since 2013, he is the Managing Director of EXPRA, a new alliance of PRO’s from currently more than 18 countries. 

Michel Sponar
Policy Officer, General Environment Directorate, European Commission

Mr. Sponar currently works on the review of the targets for the Waste Direcives and on the review of EPR schemes across EU Member States. He is also leading various horizontal actions related to improved waste management, including a project on the use of economic instruments related to the application of the waste hierarchy, the development of a reference model on waste generation and management for the European Union, and the analysis of the application of the producer responsibility schemes at the European and OECD levels. Before joigning the Commission in 2002, Mr. Sponar was Deputy Head of the Environment Minister at the Brussels region. He is a Bio Engineer with a complementary degree in Busines Management.

Rasio Ridho Sani
Deputy Minister for Hazardous Substances, Management Ministry of the Environment, Indonesia

Mr. Sani has worked at the Ministry of the Environment since 2002, where previous posts include head of bureau for planning and international cooperation, assistant deputy for mining, energy, oil and gas, executive secretary PROPER programme, and acting assistant deputy for data and information. He has a bachelor in Chemical Science from the University of Indonesia, a Masters of Commerce from the University of Syndey as well as a Masters of Public Management from the University of Potsdam. He is also a Doctorate candidate in Public Administration at the University of Indonesia.

Tomohiro Tasaki
Head of Sustainable Material Cycle Systems Section, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan

r. Tasaki is a Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Environment Systems in the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences of the University of Tokyo, Japan. His research focuses on System Analysis and Evaluation of Product/Material/Waste Management policies and Sustainability Studies.

Christoph Vanderstricht
Ernst & Young

Since 1994, Mr. Vanderstritch has built up a wide consultancy experience in private sector (companies and industry sectors) and public sector on policy design and effectiveness improvement, compliance strategy and implementation of EPR models and solid waste management regulations): governance, financing; organisation; logistics; legal, tax; negotiations; position papers. He has extensive experience with all organisational levels in more than 35 countries in South America, Asia and Europe, and provided him with a deep understanding of the diversity of cultures and drivers of people. He is a member of the OECD expert group on EPR and resource management.

Yang Zheng
Section Chief, Division of E-Waste Management, Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), People’s Republic of China

As Section Chief of E-waste Management Division of SCC-MEP which is a technical support organisation of MEP in the field of waste, chemicals, contaminated sites and heavy metals, he has conducted many researches for MEP in the field of waste, import & export management and policy.