MEET THE TEAM

ROLE

Ashwin is an experienced environmental consultant with over 10 years of business experience across Asia. He has led various materials-flow analysis, waste management economics research, strategy advisory and implementation projects on circular economy in this region. He specialises in packaging and food in India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore and has worked with some of the biggest multinational clients from consumer goods and packaging industries as well as government agencies and intergovernmental organisations.

BACKGROUND

Prior to founding GA Circular, Ashwin graduated with a business degree and worked in investment banking in Singapore for several years, managing credit risk operations with institutional clients for financial derivatives in Asia-Pacific. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business degree from the London School of Economics & Political Science, University of London.

Ashwin is passionate about the business opportunities in creating wealth from “waste” and envisions a world without waste. In 2014 he co-founded a non-commercial community farm with his wife and neighbours that continues to produce edibles in north-eastern Singapore. He currently serves as the co-chair of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce’s (SICC) Circular Economy Committee.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) World Congress, 2018
• Plasticity, 2018
• SICC Position Paper on Circular Economy in Singapore, 2018 (co-contributor)
• Material Flow and Value Chain Analysis for PET Bottles and Aluminium Cans in Thailand, 2018
• Towards Circularity of Post-Consumer Flexible Packaging in Asia, 2017

ROLE

Laura, co-founder and director at GA Circular, has over 10 years of research and consulting experience ranging in fields of marketing, consumer insights, environmental consulting and waste management. In her role at GA Circular, Laura has led materials-flow analysis, waste management economics research, strategy advisory and implementation projects on circular economy in this region. She specialises in packaging and food in Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and India.

BACKGROUND

Prior to co-founding GA, Laura graduated with a business degree and she worked in the FMCG and F&B sectors in Vietnam for 4 years and was part of the founding leadership team of AIESEC in Vietnam for 2 years. She holds a Bachelor of Business degree from the University of South Australia.

Laura grew up on a farm in rural Australia instilling a love for the environment and an interest in biocycles and wildlife. In 2014 she co-founded a non-commercial community farm with her husband and neighbours that continues to produce edibles in north-eastern Singapore. She is passionate about creating a world without waste.

COURSES

• Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries – Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
• CircularX: Circular Economy – Delft University of Technology
• Life Cycle Assessment, Introduction to Carbon Footprinting, Fundamental embodied energy and Carbon

RECENT PUBLICATIONS & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• Material Flow and Value Chain Analysis for PET Bottles and Aluminium Cans in Malaysia, 2018
• TEDx 2017
• National University of Singapore Circular Economy Forum, 2017
• Towards Circularity of Post-Consumer Flexible Packaging in Asia, 2017
• Sustainable Brands KL, 2017
• European Union Plastic Free Ocean, 2017

ROLE

Sumangali Krishnan, Chief Business Officer at GA Circular, has over 12 years of research and consulting experience ranging fields law, economics and waste management. In her current role at GA Circular, Sumangali has developed and led various research projects, exploring both policy and on-ground realities across South and South East Asia. Working closely with intergovernmental agencies, national and local governments, as well as leading plastics, consumer and retail goods manufacturers in Asia, Sumangali has a good understanding of opportunities and challenges faced by many of the countries in region with respect to waste.

BACKGROUND

Prior to her role at GA Circular, Sumangali has worked in research, private practice and has provided legal and business advise to start-ups and emerging businesses. Sumangali has a J.D. in Law from Boston University as well as a Masters and Bachelors degree in Economics, and has lived and worked in the United States prior to moving to Singapore.  She is particularly interested policy, legislation and business-led interventions as a solution to resource management in Asia.

ROLE

Tam is responsible for overseeing operational excellence and client servicing. In the day-to-day operations, he works with internal stakeholders, partners and clients to ensure successful project delivery. This will include leading the problem-solving process, resource allocation, ensuring key milestones are met and coaching team members. As a secondary accountability, he is also working on strategic initiatives and business development efforts for the business.

BACKGROUND

Prior to joining GA Circular, Tam founded his own business within the food & beverage and hospitality sector in Vietnam. During his tenure as founder and general manager, he led operations and grew the business to 34 staff, multiple locations and developed various distribution channels for their B2B business. Before that, he was with Nielsen for nearly 9 years in various roles across Vietnam and Singapore, spanning across client service, talent development, and most recently, working in regional operations for the ASEAN region. Tam holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

ROLE

Amita is a Project Manager at GA Circular, and leads our technical feasibility studies for plastics recycling projects in Asia. A move from Sweden to Singapore offered her the opportunity to pursue a new career full of purpose, to create wealth from waste by driving the circular economy in Asia.

Together the GA Circular team, Amita has participated in various materials-flow analysis, research, strategy and implementation projects on circular economy in this region.

ROLE

Amirul is passionate about achieving a sustainable environment. As a Project Manager in GA Circular, he has conducted research on packaging and food in Malaysia and Singapore while also helping organise the first Feeding the 5000 in Singapore and Asia in 2017. Amirul manages several aspects of an extensive food industry waste audit for a Singapore government client.

BACKGROUND

Amirul is a Bachelor of Environmental Studies graduate, specialising in Environmental Geography, from the National University of Singapore. Aside from academics, Amirul’s passion for sustainability led him to participate as a member of the organising teams of the GCNS Youth Forum for 2017 and 2018, facilitating discussions on sustainability between youths and experts.

ROLE

Pornchalearm (Som) is a Senior Project Manager at GA Circular and based in Bangkok. In her current role she leads the Thailand aspects of GA Circular’s research projects in waste management and recycling with prominent clients and stakeholders.

BACKGROUND

Prior to joining GA Circular, Som was a business development manager for an environmental management company working in the waste management space in Thailand. Prior to that she worked in various analyst and policy officer roles in the national government in Thailand including in the Office of the Prime Minister, the National Economic and Social Development Council and the Ministry of Social Development & Human Security. She has a wealth of experience of working in environmental and social fields in both private and public sector. Som graduated with a Master of Science in Bioinformatics & Systems Biology from King Mongkut’s University Of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok and is an awardee of the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship (Experts Training Program) in Sweden.

ROLE

As a Project Manager in GA Circular, Paolo manages technical assistance projects and feasibility studies for plastics recycling programmes in South East Asia.

BACKGROUND

Paolo has more than ten years of experience in the Municipal Solid Waste sector. Paolo holds a Master in Environmental Engineering from the University of Padua, Italy. Prior to the Environmental Studies he obtained a B.A. in International Cooperation and Development. Before joining GA he worked as a Project Manager and Solid Waste Management Expert in Germany. During this period he was actively involved in SWM Projects in Indonesia, Middle East and the Balkans.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• Emission Reduction in Cities: SWM Programme of the Indonesian Ministry of Public Work and Housing (2018), presented at ISWA 2018

ROLE

As part of GA Team, Lina serves as Project Manager currently leading behaviour change-related projects for the reduction of Plastic Debris in Indonesia. She is also involved in creating an available data directory in Waste Management for different countries of the Southeast Asia region and India that can be used as a framework for policymakers and different stakeholders, as well as to promote a Circular Economic approach across the region.

BACKGROUND

With 9 years of versatile experience in the Environmental Arena, Lina has been involved in projects related to water quality in river modelling and quality assessment.
She has also coordinated projects related to Clinical and Hazardous Waste leading change management on staff’s perception towards environmental practices and the national regulation. She had the opportunity to lead and coordinate clinical waste treatment optimization projects in one of the pioneer companies in the southwest of Colombia for Clinical and Hazardous Waste Treatment including pyrolysis and incineration.
Lina has a particular interest in finding new ways to leverage the potential of waste as valuable goods applying circular economy initiatives along the way.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• “The Role of the Environmental Leader: What I have learned from Lee Kwan Yew”. LinkedIn article.

ROLE

Nitya is a Project Executive at GA Circular. She has been a part of multiple materials-flow analysis, and waste management research projects in the ASEAN region. Her focus is on packaging waste in ASEAN countries.

BACKGROUND

Prior to joining GA Circular, Nitya graduated with an MSC in Environment, Politics and Development at SOAS University of London. Nitya wishes to work towards achieving sustainable development by empowering informal waste sectors throughout Asia.

ROLE

As a Project Executive in GA Circular, Joshua is currently working on NEA’s National Food Waste Audit (Commercial and Industrial Sector). His primary role is to head the planning and execution of data collection for food waste from over 100 companies all over Singapore. To ensure an efficient and reliable audit, Joshua works closely with his colleagues, leading waste management companies like Veolia, as well as the 4 major incineration plants in Singapore.

BACKGROUND

Prior to his tenure at GA Circular, Joshua graduated from NUS with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) degree in Environmental Engineering. During the course of his tertiary education, Joshua participated in and led numerous overseas student projects within Southeast Asia. Aside from honing his leadership and management skills, these projects and the exposure to different cultures and living conditions shaped Joshua’s worldview and motivates him to be at the forefront of environmental sustainability.

Outside GA Circular, Joshua is passionate about education – both his own and that of the younger generation. He currently volunteers as a Mathematics tutor at his church and regularly seeks out opportunities to educate himself on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from design to music.

RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS

ROLE

Aisyah, Project Executive at GA Circular, is an aspiring environmental consultant. In her current role, she is involved in a research project to understand Singapore’s food waste generation, collecting survey and waste data from commercial and industrial establishments.

BACKGROUND

Aisyah holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies, specialising in Environmental Geography from National University of Singapore. She is interested in understanding perceptions of people towards waste and recycling, which was the main focus of her final year thesis, and how policies can be tailored to address their perceptions. She is also passionate about living a zero-waste lifestyle and promoting environmental consciousness.

ROLE

Kartika is a Project Executive at GA Circular. Currently, she is involved in Plastic Recovery Organisation (PRO) Indonesia. She has been collecting survey and data on plastic waste packaging from upstream to downstream. Her main focus is on packaging waste in Indonesia.

BACKGROUND

Prior to joining GA Circular, Kartika was an environmental consultant with 2 years of experience in solid waste management. She has been conducting various solid waste management projects
In national scales, such as SWM Master Plan for Bandung, Emission Reduction in Cities 2 – Advance Solid Waste Management, zero-waste design for properties and SWM strategies in village level. Kartika graduated with an MSC in Environmental Science at Wageningen University.

ROLE

As a Project Intern at GA Circular, Diem-Phuc (Linda) is currently supporting in the National Plastics Action Partnership in Vietnam through data collection and analysis.

BACKGROUND

Prior to joining GA team, Diem-Phuc has recently graduated from NUS with a MSc. degree in Environmental Management and done her dissertation entitled “Reverse Logistics for E-waste Management: Insights from Electronic Producers in Singapore”. She has been a co-founder of Green Fingers Vietnam, a start-up of a youth-led non-profit team focusing on recycling and environmental education. Diem-Phuc wants to carrry out research projects in solid waste management to help poor communities in developing countries and inspires other people to join her on board.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

ROLE

As a Project Intern in GA Circular, Le Xiang is currently assisting in Tetra Pak Singapore. In his role, He is involved in conducting surveys on the different stakeholders in Singapore.

BACKGROUND

Before starting with GA circular, Le Xiang Graduated from Republic Polytechnic with a Diploma in User Experience. “One man’s rubbish is another’s treasure”. With the drive of sustainability, Le Xiang head-on and started his journey in Recycling. With 4 years of working experience as a recycling coordinator.

ROLE

Samantha is a Project Intern at GA Circular. She supports the GA Circular team with their research projects through data collection and analysis. Currently, she is involved in a research project pertaining to understanding Singapore’s recycling activities.

BACKGROUND

Having graduated from NUS with a Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental) (Honours) degree, she wishes to use her knowledge and capabilities to help alleviate social and environmental issues. As an aspiring environmentalist, Samantha has worked on and initiated many socio-environmental issues while in university such as the Cats Under Flats project with SWCDC and Project OceaNUS with the ESESC. Besides environmental issues, Samantha currently also volunteers at the Siglap Homework Cafe where she tutors students primarily in Math and Science.