Melinda Watson ()

Melinda has worked extensively in the fields of design, education and organizational change for 25 years. Her early background involved visual communication for social and environmental campaigning. As a director of Chameleon Design she had wide experience of visual communication, brand reputation management and design innovation both regionally and nationally, particularly in packaging and sustainability. As an educator, she developed and delivered the only BSc in Sustainable Graphics & Packaging at the University of Bournemouth. Melinda worked closely with the Institute of Packaging (IOP) to promote sustainable packaging and sat on the judging panel of the IOP ‘Starpack’ awards. Melinda is currently working with multi-partnerships exploring consumerism, materialism and behaviour change. She was recently awarded an Earth Champion ‘Change Agent’ award and a publication includes ‘Materials Awareness’ in The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy: skills for a changing world (Green Books, 2009). Her research and consulting work focuses on leadership and young people, creating spaces for individuals and organisations to identify, discuss and then act on pressing sustainable issues. Finding ways to converge the aspirations of corporate responsibility, environmental sustainability and social justice closer to the centre of organisations and individual’s lives is paramount. In 2010, Melinda founded Raw Foundation. The charity focuses on key waste streams (such as plastic waste) and supports young people on a transition from consumer self-interest to sustainable social behavior. She launched and published their first Plastic-Free Festival Guide in 2014, in partnership with Kambe Events, a sustainable event management consultancy. The guide, showcased at the Green Events and Innovations Conference 2014 has been adopted by Glastonbury Festival, Shambala Festival and others following suit. A Plastic-free Festival-Goer Guide and City, Beach, Lifestyle and Sector Guides for Bristol 2015, the National Trust ‘Coast Campaign’ 2015, eXXpedition, CitytoSea, Go Green, Bristol and Kas, in Turkey in collaboration with WWF towards a ‘Sustainable Tourism’ plan cover everything from the stark reality about plastics to the things individuals need to take into consideration to reduce their plastic footprint and amplify the ‘message’ in a wider context. Raw in Africa: As part of Raw Foundation’s campaign to eliminate toxic single-use plastics by 2030, Melinda recently led a world’s first expedition to explore the length of Africa from Cairo to Cape Town, to track the world’s plastic footprint and shine a global Spotlight on the scale and peril of transboundary plastic pollution.