Maree admits to being “green very early” and feels fortunate for her experiences working in government and overseas as contributing to her deep understanding of stakeholders and clients.
Enthusiastic about the design opportunities for the waste sector and motivated to make an impact every day, Maree believes WSP is a business that wants to leave the planet in a better place... “otherwise I’d feel very challenged.”
When you started your career is this where you thought you were headed?
“Absolutely not. I started in civil engineering in water / hydraulics and that led to a discovery of litter and beaches and what was happening to our environment”, says Maree.
Maree moved to the United States, where she worked for three years. She commenced working for a Civil Engineering contractor. Maree says she was frustrated in engineering, and it felt very behind so she moved to IT and worked in precious metals recycling. “When I came back from overseas, I really needed to go back to an industry that was much more closely aligned to community.”
Maree worked in local government for 12 years and learnt the importance of transparency and the responsibility of using rate payer’s money properly. “Our team at WSP has an amazing reputation of working with local government because we understand them… we know how to structure our work to make the most of community rates.”
Maree then moved into consulting but because of her background in government she feels balanced in her knowledge and insights. “I’m very fortunate for the work experiences I’ve had, and I encourage people to do a few years in government to understand our stakeholders, and our clients, and the way they work.”
What motivates your career?
Maree is a self-professed early adopter and likes innovation, change and doing things that she’s never done before.
“I have to know that I’m leaving the world in a better place, I have to know that I’ve impacted the standard of living and people’s lives on a daily basis, and that’s why I’m in waste specifically.”
What are you hoping to change in your industry?
Maree believes very small acts to do with behavior change can make a huge difference: “not buying packaging with your lunch, repairing things and buying pre-loved items, buying quality things to last and that can be repaired, can make a huge difference.”
The opportunities for the waste and resource recovery industry are huge and different States throughout Australia are at different levels of progression: “many States that have positively progressed are because of levies and taxes not because of knowledge, unfortunately.”
The waste industry needs a lot more structure around it at a local, state and federal government level and Australia now has an act that is focused on waste and circular economy. Maree says, “The industry has finally been elevated because China stopped accepting our waste… good things come from disasters and the upside is we do have an industry that is now growing and maturing.”
What do you see as some of the barriers to change?
“The fact that we do not have enough manufacturing in Australia means it’s become too easy to buy cheaper and poorer quality imports such as clothing, vehicles, furniture,” says Maree. “It’s disappointing that we de-engineered Australia.”
There is so much opportunity to increase manufacturing and increase the whole repair industry and if we did move to this model there would be a whole lot of jobs in maintenance and repair. “It’s not about job loss, it’s just a shift.”
Maree also believes that people’s desire for fast furniture and fashion is hugely problematic, and a significant amount of behavior change is required. “We’re living way beyond our means and our planet’s means.”
“We’re starting to see a shift in younger generations, and we can see it at the most basic level when people are hiring clothes – if you are going to a formal you can hire a suit rather than buy something new.”
Where is the industry heading?
Maree does see positives for the industry and particularly with children and their behaviors and habits. “Just like ‘no hat no play’ there are concepts like ‘nude food’ and not using plastic packing in lunchboxes… kids are so much more aware of what’s recyclable and what’s not.”
There is a massive gap in the engineering industry to do with the concept of adaptive reuse - the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. “Every engineering discipline needs to know how to design better and adapt what we’ve already done to reduce emissions.”
There’s an enormous opportunity to utilise this concept and think about reusing things in their current form rather than using recycled content. “We are all heading in the right direction we just need to think beyond recycling”, says Maree.
Why do you enjoy working at WSP?
“When you’re in smaller boutique firms you just don’t get that range of projects. There’s bigger opportunities at WSP to work with so many disciplines so closely and that’s when you can really make a change and even educate internally... everyone is moving forward together and with so much more knowledge.”
Maree draws on WSP colleagues around the globe to learn about new innovations and successes. She has a young team who is exceptionally passionate and feels that all levels of management back the work they do and what they stand for: “We’re a small team but management knows who we are, the type of work we bring and the impacts we can have on a project… their support is very satisfying.”
What are your favourite projects or experiences at WSP?
Maree’s career highlight is making a real change to the landscape of Melbourne via legacy projects. Maree and her team wrote the waste strategy for the iconic Queen Victoria Market Renewal Project and as a result, the innovative technology that they will use for this infrastructure has never been used in Australia before.
When complete, the $20 million Melton Resource Recovery Facility will be considered the best transfer station in Victoria and will set a benchmark for Australia. “It’s been exceptionally rewarding to work on this project with a team of 10 WSP disciplines and we have guided this project and have just started construction.”
Maree and her team have been working closely with the internal WSP Indigenous Specialist Services Team to learn more about waste through an Indigenous lens so when talking to clients they can better express things in first people’s principles. “My team feels that if we’re trying to leave country a better place then we need to understand country... the Indigenous Services Team and my team are also learning how to work together and bid together on projects.”
Where to from here?
As an industry leading expert in Waste Management and Circular Economy, Maree sits on the Property Council of Australia Precincts Committee. She works with people across government, manufacturing, architecture and engineering and enjoys moderating panels, speaking at conferences, and discussing industry direction with government.
With plans to remain at the forefront of innovation, Maree wants to continue to learn new ways of doing things. “There’s new materials coming to market that we’ve never had access to before and there’s so much opportunity for do things differently.
“I’d like to see in the next 10 years much more acknowledgement of circularity and the sector, a real commitment in Australia to just generating so much less waste, and really thinking about the way we design things.
“If I can keep pushing that agenda and that story, I will be a very happy person.”
