Before the concepts of zero waste and the circular economy had developed, Catherine could see that there was a problem with the amount of plastic packaging being used in our modern lives. A true innovator, Catherine set-up Unpackaged in 2006 as the world’s first modern zero waste shop, which has since developed into a leading consultancy with clients such as Waitrose, Planet Organic, M&S, Sainsbury's, Greenpeace, WRAP, River Cottage and a host of smaller independent brands and retailers. Not only has Unpackaged created a new, desirable, sustainable category in modern retailing but Catherine’s passion for developing systems to enable refilling, and reuse, within various sectors has enabled many other businesses to create real and lasting change.

Ian started as a Packaging Technologist/Engineer in the retailer Co-operative Wholesale Society (CO-OP) in Manchester working in 100 manufacturing facilities on cans, glass, plastics, paper and board, before moving into buying and marketing. He went to head up Packaging and Technical at the retailer Iceland in 1984 and started the Iceland brand.

Ian then moved to the other side selling packaging and putting in product launch systems into major brands and retailers selling services into Danone, Estee Lauder, Kraft, Safeway, Wal Mart, Heinz to name a few. This included running design, artwork and pre-press companies.He was a director for Storm Brands and Sun Branding Solutions, which included Parker Williams. He moved back to the retailer Iceland (1,000 stores selling in 42 countries) in 2013 to head packaging and process as the Own Label Manager reporting into the Managing Director.

In January 2018, Iceland launched on TV as the first retailer to go plastic free by 2023. Ian has also used digital printing extensively and is known for his massive love for packaging and printing. After six epic years at Iceland, Ian is now semi-retired (trying to improve his golf handicap) and running a consultancy, as well as enjoying non-exec board roles providing various services from digital print to sustainability. Ian is a Fellow of the Packaging Society as part of the institute of Mining, Minerals and Materials.

Jane is Chair of OPRL Ltd, the not-for-profit giving recycling advice to consumers through its award-winning labels and defining recyclability through its online tool PREP and Certified As Recyclable certification scheme. Nearly 700 businesses and charities across all parts of the packaging circular economy – designers, converters, packer/fillers, brands and retailers, waste management and reprocessing – are in membership. She helped establish the company in 2009 and led OPRL’s expansion, moving consumer recognition to 3 in 4 people and developing new ways to engage consumers and support businesses. Jane is also on the Remuneration Committee of St Anne’s College, Oxford and is Chair of Governors at Saint Gabriel’s College, Camberwell. Previously Jane held senior roles at the British Retail Consortium and the Association of British Insurers, where she founded sector climate change initiatives. She started her career as an agricultural scientist and later policy and finance lead at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and HM Treasury. Jane has an MA in Agricultural and Forest Sciences from Oxford University. She is a Chartered Resource and Waste Manager and a Chartered Environmentalist.

Julian Hunt leads the Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability team at Coca-Cola European Partners in GB. In this role he is responsible for all aspects of CCEP’s internal and external communications, as well as its sustainability and Government affairs programmes. Before CCEP, Julian was Director of Communications at the Food and Drink Federation where he helped to steer the industry through many challenging debates, not least on public health. Before that, Julian was Editor of The Grocer magazine. In June 2013 he joined the Board of OPRL Ltd, the organisation which runs the packaging recycling information scheme in Great Britain. He is proud also to have supported the work of other organisations including the School Food Trust, FareShare and GroceryAid.

Professor Louise Manning has worked for over 35 years in the agri-food supply chain in a range of roles. Her expertise is in the area of food security and food integrity including food safety, food quality, food crime, policy and governance, social and corporate responsibility, resilience, risk assessment and mitigation strategies. Louise has carried out projects for government bodies and companies throughout Europe and Africa. This work includes strategic risk analysis and mitigation for both corporate organisations and public bodies. She has been published in peer-reviewed journals, authored book chapters and written and edited books in the subject area. Louise's research work also involves undertaking desktop reviews; qualitative and quantitative fieldwork including focus groups, workshops and in-depth interviews, questionnaire design and analysis, strategic framework, communication systems and model design and developing tools to drive risk communication and engagement of stakeholders at all levels of the supply chain. Louise is active in social media posting regularly on LinkedIn and with a food safety blog Food Safety Chat and tweets about food issues on Twitter as @foodsafetyljm

Lucy Siegle is an independent writer and journalist (broadcast and print). She has been telling stories about the Earth, crisis and opportunity for nearly 20 years to a wide and varied audience. In the fashion industry she is known as an authority on the environmental and social footprint of the global fashion industry. Her book To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing out the World , published by Fourth Estate London, 2011 was also the basis for hit Netflix documentary, The True Cost, in which Siegle appears and is credited as co-executive producer. In 2014 she co-founded the Green Carpet Challenge with Livia Firth. From 2004 to 2018 she wrote a weekly Ethical Living column in the Observer Magazine. As a reporter and presenter on BBC1’s The One Show, she has been reporting on the problem of single use plastic and wider eco issues since the show began in 2007. Her book, Turning the Tide on Plastic: How Humanity (and you) Can Make Our Globe Clean Again was published by Trapeze/Orion in August. Lucy is the co-host of a forthcoming podcast on climate and the media in partnership with Frontline Club and Sony Music. She is passionate about securing more airtime for the climate crisis and other biosphere issues.

Peter Maddox is Director of WRAP UK. He has been with WRAP for 12 years, initially working on developing markets in the UK for recycled materials and working closely with Defra on environmental policy.

He led the development of WRAP’s Resource Revolution 2015-20 business plan and established the Resource London partnership with the London Waste and Recycling Board. He became Director in 2016 and is currently responsible for WRAP’s work on food waste, plastics, clothing and resource management in the UK.

Before WRAP, he spent nearly 20 years working for BP in the chemicals sector in UK and France in research, manufacturing and strategy roles. He has a BA and DPhil in chemistry from the University of Oxford. He is a member of Green Alliance. Outside work, Peter enjoys cycling, reading, walking and real ale. 

Rosie has worked for FSC UK for over 13 years, and as Executive Director of the charity since March 2015. With an MSc in Conservation Biology, she previously worked as Director of Wales Wildlife & Countryside Link (now Wales Environment Link) and helped to run a restaurant business with her husband. With the UK being such an important market for FSC, Rosie leads the FSC UK team to support those manufacturing and procuring FSC certified materials and to increase awareness of the importance of responsible forestry. She enjoys getting out into the great outdoors and is developing her interest in photography, capturing the fauna and flora she sees.

Steve is CPI Director of Environmental & Energy Affairs. He is also Managing Director of the subsidiary company TMC that manages the sector Climate Change Agreement (CCA) and provides technical support for the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to all UK paper mills. Steve started voluntary work at an early age, taking part in canal restoration projects.

He volunteered and later worked for, the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers working with groups of long-term unemployed people in Manchester and Liverpool doing practical conservation work and leading working holidays in the UK and around Europe. He later joined the environmental charity Groundwork working on landscape restoration and forestry projects in the urban fringe.

Over the following years Steve progressed to Regional Programmes Manager, managing a portfolio of programmes funded by external sponsors. He then took a role with industry-funded trade body Alupro, to support the development of recycling for aluminium packaging throughout northern UK, working with traditional collectors, community groups and local authorities. Prior to joining CPI, Steve was employed by Exeter City Council to develop and manage an in-house integrated recycling programme, including kerbside collections for all households in the city with sorting carried out at the City Council owned MRF.