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About us
Our Trust, Trustees and Executive
The Trust for the Destruction of Synthetic Refrigerants was formed in 1993 to manage refrigerant gas collection and destruction in New Zealand. Since 1993, Refrigerant Recovery NZ has safely collected for destruction over 623,000 kilograms of synthetic refrigerants and ozone depleting gases (CFC, HCFC, HFC) as at March 2023.
This has had the impact of saving over 39,600 tonnes of ozone and reducing the build-up of greenhouse gases by over 1,496,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. In our new form as Cool-Safe, our aim is to increase those numbers. Exponentially.
The Trust has applied to be the Product Stewardship Organisation (PSO) for the priority product, 'Refrigerants'.
Our trustees are appointed to represent all refrigerant industry groups in New Zealand. We also have an independent Chair from outside industry to offer broader experience and insight.
We engage additional specialists as necessary through appointed advisors or cross-sector technical advisory groups. We’re committed to best practice governance, and in 2021 the Trust was restructured to ensure it reflects current best practice for not-for-profit organisations.
We have a Trust Deed in place which outlines our governance approach and how our Board operates.
Our Trustees
Chair
Richard Lauder
A chartered member of the Institute of Directors, Richard works in governance with a special interest in roles pertaining to climate change adaption and mitigation.
Prior to governance, Richard had a long career in chief executive roles across a range of sectors in New Zealand.
His role is to lead Cool-Safe in its product stewardship of fluorinated gases.
REFRIGERATION SECTOR SUPPLIERS
Sameer Handa, MNZM
A mechanical engineer with an MBA, Sameer has extensive experience in management and leadership roles across several industries in various countries around the world. In 2021, he became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to business and trade relations between New Zealand and India.
Sameer has worked in the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry for 26 years, including 20 years as CEO of the biggest refrigeration wholesaler in New Zealand
Sameer is passionate about the environment and his role within Cool-Safe is to advise on strategy and investments.
LARGE SCALE HOLDERS/CUSTOMERS
Linda Mulvihill
Linda Mulvihill is the Head of Energy and Climate at Fonterra. In this role she is responsible for leading the strategy and programme of work to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions across the manufacturing sites, while also ensuring that the company has an economic and secure supply of energy. Linda has a legal and science background, and in 2016 won the NZ Energy Excellence award for the Young Energy Professional of the Year.
Linda grew up on a sheep and beef farm in rural New Zealand, which embedded a passion for looking after the planet that stays with her today. Outside of work, she has two young children and a farm where their focus is on creating a great product, minimising the environmental impact of beef production, and leaving the land in a better state for future generations to enjoy.
Linda is excited about the opportunity to apply her breadth of sustainability and commercial knowledge and expertise towards the objectives for the Trust.
HVAC&R Industry
Matthew Darby
Matthew is a business owner, leader and advocate of the HVAC&R Industry. He provided us with this overview of why he wanted to become one of our trustees:
"Refrigeration is at the heart of a thriving New Zealand way of life, and it’s with pride I can say it’s been at the heart of my family since Dad first picked up the tools over forty years ago. Dad was one of the best in the game and he taught me to value the people you work with. I’ve taken that into my own family business and while growing it nationwide I’ve learnt:
We’re up against some of the largest refrigeration multinationals in the world, yet we deliver industry leading technology to some of New Zealand’s biggest companies.
We know we’ve got it right when customers see refrigeration isn’t “just a cost we have to incur” but a serious competitive advantage.
Getting it right for the customer + reducing environmental impacts = true success.
New Zealand has so much to offer – we live in a truly spectacular landscape and I believe New Zealanders are always looking to protect that. I’ve been involved in the outdoors from an early age and want to design refrigeration systems that minimise our impact on the environment and since having kids , I feel that’s even more important. But we don’t just support large organisations. We have some of the best people in the industry whose design skills and install knowledge have seen refrigerated display, coolstore and cooling systems help NZ businesses of all sizes create new markets, develop new products, reduce costs and increase product and brand premiums."
Associate Trustee
Emily Mabin Sutton
An emerging director, Emily is a trustee of Consumer New Zealand and independent director at Clean Planet Franchise. As the GM of Climate Club, she now works with businesses, councils and leadership teams to engage decision makers around long-term climate impacts.
From a software & IT background, Emily spent a decade working in hypergrowth global startups across the world, and brings knowledge of AI, technology and data governance to the board.
In her free time she campaigns for faster climate action, including successfully campaigning to get coal out of schools and closing a loophole in the ETS.
Emily is excited to have been appointed as an Associate Trustee to gain more exposure to governance practices and governance of organisations with direct GHG emissions reductions goals.
Our Executive
Chief Executive
Janine Brinsdon
Janine brings a wealth of leadership skills and experience in change management and stakeholder engagement to her role as Chief Executive, having led WasteMINZ as CE for three years. Previous to that she was General Manager at Business North Harbour and served as an Executive Board Member with the British New Zealand Business Association.
Building strong and collaborative relationships with our partners is one of Janine's key priorities.
Contact: janine@coolsafe.org.nz
021 337 870Projects Support Coordinator
Maria Lally
With a background in the financial services industry, and most recently a role working in refrigeration and air conditioning, Maria is the perfect fit to support the ongoing development of some of our key Cool-Safe projects.
One of Maria's key roles will be helping pay your bounty payments - so she is someone you will want to know!
Contact: admin@coolsafe.org.nz
Marketing and Communications Manager
Luana Scowcroft
Luana brings an extensive background in marketing, communications and stakeholder engagement that spans Government, private sector and NGO worlds. She has run her own businesses and worked on some of the most complex programmes across Government in conservation, infrastructure and Māori development. She is passionate about the impact Cool-Safe has on our safeguarding our environment.
The focus of Luana's role is creating opportunities for Cool-Safe to connect, collaborate and communicate across the sector.
Customer Service Coordinator
Katrina Bate
Katrina joins the team as our Customer Service Coordinator. She has extensive experience in customer services across a number of industries in New Zealand, including running her own businesses.
Katrina is passionate and committed to creating strong relationships. Her role will focus on offering support to the industry on bounty payments, our Coolest Courier service and any other queries you have.
Trust Administrator
Trust Administrator
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PWC are The Trust for the Destruction of Synthentic Refrigerants' administrator.