Chats for the Goals: Plastics and the Circular Economy - findings from India

Researchers from the Institute for Sustainable Futures will share leading-edge research on plastics and the circular economy, drawing insights from a multi-institution 3-year research collaboration between India and Australia; as well as opportunities to engage with the recently funded 10-year Solving Plastics Waste CRC.

About your presenters 

Simran Talwar

Dr. Simran Talwar is Research Principal in the Resource Stewardship group at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS. She has over 13 years of research and industry experience in circular economy, policy, and business strategy. Simran’s expertise is cross-disciplinary, spanning circular economy, industrial ecosystems and networks, competitive dynamics, and technological, structural, and institutional transformation for sustainability.

At ISF, Simran consults on various projects related to circular economy, product stewardship and net zero pathways, working closely with industry, local, state, federal governments, and international development agencies. Simran is project manager for the India-Australia Plastics Initiative with CSIRO, funded by the Commonwealth government, and for the assessment of benefits and effectiveness of product stewardship in Australia, funded by the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment (DAWE). She is principal advisor to the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence and leads the chemical and textile industry net zero pathways research for the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance, funded by the European Climate Foundation.

Monique Retamal

Dr Monique Retamal is a Research Director and Program Lead for Resource Stewardship at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney.

She has a background in environmental engineering and social research and fifteen years’ experience undertaking research into sustainable urban systems, including for water, sanitation and solid waste. She specialises in sustainable systems of consumption and production in the Asia-Pacific region. Her research is currently focused on circular supply chains and environmental governance for plastics and textiles. Monique is currently leading UTS’s contribution to an international research collaboration between six research institutions in India and Australia to identify pathways for a circular economy for plastics in India, which includes a focus on policy frameworks and circular business models.

Laure-Elise Ruoso

Laure-Elise Ruoso is a transdisciplinary social researcher interested in questions related to peri-urban agriculture and the planning challenges it is facing. She is also interested in the social and institutional dimensions of market-based mechanisms for the protection of the environment, such as biodiversity offsets, carbon farming, and payments for ecosystem services.

She holds a Bachelor of Geography and Planning and a transdisciplinary Master of Environmental Science. She recently completed a doctorate focusing on the politics of place identity in peri-urban Sydney, particularly, on how competing representations of ‘rurality’ play an important role in determining peri-urban place identities.