Hara Xirou

Biography

Hara Xirou is a consultant for a leading resource efficiency consultancy based in London. Hara manages projects to improve the local, regional and national environment through delivery of recycling schemes and sustainable procurement practices. Her career at London Remade started in November 2005 as a project officer, mainly involved assisting London Local Authorities with the design and implementation of resource efficiency projects specifically in the waste and recycling industry. Throughout these projects she worked closely with senior council staff including CEOs, and raised staff and community awareness while chairing quarterly environmental champion group meetings focused on waste and recycling.
During her current role with London Remade Hara has managed a range of resource efficiency programmes for the public and private sector. As a project manager for the Recycle at Work National Programme, funded by WRAP, Hara and her team provided assistance to 107 SMEs, advising them on resource efficiency and identified methods to implement office recycling schemes, waste minimisation and green purchasing.
Hara’s passion for the environment and Climate Change has triggered her interest to work closely with businesses and assist them with reducing their environmental impacts. Her current role includes supporting organisations to develop corporate sustainability policies and strategies, advising them to procure sustainable products and services and providing tools for improved engagement with their suppliers and other stakeholders.
Hara completed her first degree with Honours in Biology at Sussex University in 2003 and subsequently graduated from Imperial College with a Masters Degree in Environmental Science and Technology in 2004. During that time she conducted research in a fishery community in Madagascar, examining the interaction between marine related enterprises, cooperatives and regional institutional bodies. Hara performed scientific and community based surveys and made a number of recommendations to enhance sustainable development in the area. Following her findings and the continuous support from Blue Ventures (a local environmental organisation) the area has now developed the world’s first community-run Marine Protected Area for octopus which has led to a significant increase in the size and population of the species in the region.
Since a very young age she has had a great passion towards protecting our environment and has admired experts that were leading change around the world. Being a volunteer for environmental and conservation organisations gave her the opportunity to see some of today’s challenges and to work closely with communities and government bodies to mitigate them. Hara speaks four languages, English, French, Spanish and Greek and is a qualified PADI diver.

This biography was last updated on August 19, 2009