The Evening team turned on another outstanding Evening Conversation on 14 June 23, featuring Manon Beauchamp-Tardieu, Founder and Managing Director, Little Green Panda who spoke on the Topic ‘The Future of Sustainable Packaging'.
Last week’s Evening Conversation began with Dasun Premadasa as MC paying respects to the traditional owners, following which President Adrian reminded us of the significant number of Club Members recognised in the first King’s Birthday Honours list. Honorary Member and Lord Mayor, Sally Capp was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), Peter Rogers and Tony Greenwood who were made members of the Order of Australia (AM), and Phil Endersbee received the Award of Order of Australia Medal(OAM). Adrian also highlighted the award of AM to Jillian Riseley, daughter of Past RI President and Rotary Melbourne Honorary Member, Ian Riseley. Jillian was the Moderator of the panel discussion at the recent World Environment Day luncheon.
Our guest speaker was Manon Beauchamp-Tardieu, Co-Founder of Little Green Panda, a for purpose enterprise founded on the belief that single use products shouldn't be "made to last”. This is nowhere more evident than the world’s oceans in which more than 8 million tones of plastic are dumped every year.
Manon spoke passionately about the Little Green Panda start up journey, which despite the challenges of the pandemic, was a perfectly timed initiative given the global trend to banning single use plastic container.
Her address informed us that she and her partner have a serious capacity problem staying ahead of spiralling demand for the compostable straws, coffee cups and lids, and cafe cutlery, all made out of materials like used coffee grounds that are currently made in Taiwan but will shortly be manufactured in Australia. Little Green Panda’s reuse of coffee grounds has transformed this “waste-product” into an attractive income source for cafes and hospitality providers rather than a cost burden for disposal.
She highlighted the dominant capability of she and her partners in marketing and distribution and the need to rely on technical design and manufacturing of a joint venture partner.
The Q&A that follows Manon’s address is one of the most lively and engaged we have experienced in our speaker series.
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