Mindy O’Brien is the Coordinator at VOICE of Irish Concern for the Environment. She is an environmental attorney, receiving her law degree and Environmental Law Certificate from Lewis and Clarke Law School in Portland, Oregon and has been actively involved in environmental issues for nearly 25 years. Mindy worked on Capitol Hill in Washington DC for 6 years for several Members of Congress and Congressional Subcommittees where her areas of expertise were primarily in waste and water policy. Since coming to Ireland, she has been on the Board of VOICE for 10 years before becoming Coordinator. Most recently, she has been campaigning for proactive actions to reduce food waste and sustainable consumption. VOICE was the primary organiser for the Feeding the 5,000 public awareness event and continues to hold local ‘Food Rescue’ events throughout the country. She was the convenor of the resource efficiency working group and currently sits on the Irish Environmental Network Board of Directors. Additionally, she was the environmental representative on the government’s Advisory Group to the Regional Waste Plan Coordination Committee and is the environmental representative on the National Waste Prevention Committee. She also contributes to the government’s Circular Economy working group which feeds into Ireland’s proposals on the current EU Circular Economy package. Mindy has developed a ‘Towards Zero Waste, Cashel’ pilot programme, which she hopes to commence early 2017. She has been working closely with the Southern Region Waste Management office, Tipperary County Council and various community groups in Cashel to move this initiative forward and become Ireland’s first ‘towards zero waste’ community. The Zero Waste movement is an international phenomenon with over 200 ‘zero waste’ communities worldwide. Lastly, she sits on the board of Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) where she is the Secretary and Vice-Chair. As a member of SWAN, she participates in the Public Water Forum. https://www.voiceireland.org