Minderoo names plastics initiative chief

Minderoo has appointed former Dow executive and director Ramesh Ramachandran as chief executive of its No Plastic Waste initiative.

That initiative, which released the ‘Plastic Waste Makers Index’ report this past month, has cooperated with the foundation’s Sea the Future campaign to advocate for eliminating single-use plastics.

Dr Ramachandran’s previous experience includes working as an adviser with MEGVIN Advisors, as president and chief executive of Kuwait-based EQUATE Petrochemical Company and in leadership roles with global chemicals business Dow.

He will report to Minderoo’s chief executive Andrew Hagger and oversee work in Perth, London, New York, Washington D.C. and Amsterdam.

Minderoo chair Andrew Forrest said the appointment was a testament to the caliber of the team to date.

“Governments and policy makers can only do so much to confront this environmental nightmare,” he said.

“His deep corporate knowledge and personal drive to use his technical expertise to address plastic waste at the source is a welcome and valuable addition to the next phase of our initiative.”

Dr Ramachandran said he was excited to join the team.

“Technical solutions exist – implementation has to accelerate to precede the planned growth in virgin plastic globally,” he said.

“Minderoo Foundation and No Plastic Waste will help lead such projects and enable a global measurement standard to be established so progress can be tracked.”

Mark Barnaba, who chairs the Sea the Future initiative, highlighted Dr Ramachandran’s academic experience as important to the initiative’s aims and said he knew the exact balance needed to secure partner frameworks to deliver results.

To read more about Minderoo’s No Plastic Waste initiative, as well as the work of Fortescue Metal Group’s deputy chair Mark Barnaba in furthering its aims, be sure to read the June 28 edition of Business News.