We are a community run initiative to facilitate networking learning and sharing. We aim to bring you an ongoing series of pop-up festivals with workshops, talks, screenings, and meet-up sessions taking place on a regular basis in different locations. You can meet our lovely team of dedicated volunteers here, and if you like to get involved yourself, check out the Get Involved section.
Jan Knappe
Jan is an environmental scientist with an undeniable passion for sustainability, data, more data, and quirky facts. E.g., did you know that only 9% of all plastic ever produced actually was recycled? So, better to ditch the disposables! Jan mainly takes care of our website and you might see him shoot a few videos and click a picture or two during our events. He was the project manager for our largest Festival to date at the Science Gallery. You can also find him on Twitter or check out his personal blog.
Íde Mhic Ghabann
Íde is a true sustainarian and founding mother of the Zero Waste Festival. Her journey towards living more sustainably started back in 2016, which she declared to be her personal buy-nothing-new-year. Since, she graduated to be a renowned Zero Waste lifestyle expert. In 2017, with her husband, she started the first Zero Waste stall touring the markets of Dublin and its surroundings (Bring your Own). On Instagram, you can follow Íde‘s eco journal documenting her efforts to reduce her impact on the planet.
Celia Somlai
Celia has been involved with the Zero Waste Festival team from the beginning and is heading our pop-up events. Together with Mies, she also runs the Zero Waste Dublin Meetup, is a member of the Dublin CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), and co-founder of Precious Plastic Dublin. You can follow her Zero Waste adventures on her Instagram and her own blog. Her biggest enemy is disposable plastic and her favourite zero waste gadget is a jam jar. In “real life”, she is researching packaging waste in Ireland and the EU.
Zdenka Thunder
Zdenka is a food lover and amateur aerial acrobat who likes to keep things simple. She shares her tips and tricks for living a more sustainable life on her blog, Coming to Zero. In her free time, you’ll find her in the garden trying to coax vegetables out of the ground by any wizardry possible. She has also occasionally been sighted indoors, but is likely to cut a distorted figure behind all those glass jars full of kitchen experiments. Zdenka joined the festival organisation team in July 2017 and currently is the treasurer, instagrammer and (wannabe) designer.
Mies Stam
Mies has a love for the environment, expressed by affection for plants as well as through her zero waste commitment. Mies began her zero waste journey four years ago, and now runs the zero waste loose food stall Bare Necessities Ireland together with her best friend Molly and also runs wildflower identification walks. She has been part of the Zero Waste Festival since the start.
Michele Hallahan
Michele has worked in strategic environmental and sustainability management for over twenty years both throughout the United States and in Ireland. She is the Sustainability Advisor to Trinity College Dublin, and advises business and industries on strategic sustainability. Among other things, she has been educating people on recycling, reusing and composting since 1999 and is an educator, trainer and public speaker. Among other skills, she is a master sushi chef and trained assassin. You can also find her on Twitter @ecologicmichele.
Camilla Roselli
Camilla joined the Zero Waste Festival group in the summer of 2019 and started her zero waste journey after moving to Ireland in 2017. She is a food lover and a food waste hater, always enjoying time in nature. In her real life she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Neuroscience in Trinity College Dublin. You can find her on Twitter @camilla_roselli
Mahdi Dibaiee
Mahdi is a software engineer and cognitive science student who is committed to help in efforts to protect the environment and conserve wildlife around the planet. He started as a volunteer in Zero Waste Festival and currently helps with the festival’s website as well.
Ciarán Smyth
Ciarán is an environment and wildlife enthusiast, and has been committed to living a more sustainable lifestyle since 2016. Along with wife Íde, he set up Bring Your Own in 2017 to bring zero-waste wholefoods to markets in and around Dublin.
Sindy Sharma (Former Member)
Sindy helped for a long time as on-the-spot volunteer at and in-between the festivals. Her two boys also frequently join in as our youngest Zero Waste Festival volunteers. She prefers living off-line so doesn’t have any social media accounts to follow but you can chat with her about food waste, (beginner) GIY gardening, and household thriftiness.
Sharmistha Chatterjee (Former Member)
Sharmistha is a Yoga Instructor and a marketing executive. Her Zero Waste journey started a couple of years ago in India when she started composting kitchen waste to grow organic veggies for her family. Sharmistha is a minimalist in the making and is currently experimenting to live with less than 30 items overall in her wardrobe.
Laura Astori (Former Member)
Laura is an environmental enthusiast and a social addict! Her Zero Waste journey started recently joining as volunteer to meet more people with similar values, learn how to make practical positive changes and share fun (sustainable) experiences! Laura’s background is in Environmental Policy and she worked in different environmental fields; she is also passionate about community engagement and is an advocate of sustainability as a social connector and wrote some the blog post in the Zero Waste section.