John Gertsakis

John is a sustainability and communications professional across diverse industries with a focus on product stewardship, the circular economy and extended producer responsibility. He is a director of the Australian Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence, an adjunct professor with the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS, and co-founder of the Ewaste Watch Institute. His early work on circular design and cradle-to-cradle thinking represents a pioneering phase with RMIT’s Centre for Design team. John’s policy, stewardship and circular design projects cover appliances, automotive, electronics, office furniture, floor coverings, textiles and plastic products used in the healthcare sector. He served as Executive Director of Product Stewardship Australia from 2006 to 2011 advising global consumer electronics brands in the development of Commonwealth product stewardship legislation and the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme. John was also the Associate Director of the European Union-funded ‘EcoSmart Design Program’ based in Ireland. He has worked in Australia, New Zealand, India and Northern Ireland, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia. John is also a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group on the Circular Economy recently established by the Australian Government through the Minister for the Environment and Water, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP.
Master of Arts (Environmental Design), RMIT University, 2004
Bachelor of Social Science (Socio-Environmental Assessment and Policy), RMIT University, 1988
Graduate Diploma (Media Studies), Deakin University, 2001.