About Us
Principal Stephen Mitchell is a leading sustainability professional and a specialist in due diligence for illegally logged wood, timber waste resource recovery and product environmental certification. With over 20 years’ experience, he has extensive relationships across multiple industries as well as State and Commonwealth governments.
Stephen has trained and assisted more than 150 timber, paper and wood furniture importers with compliance with the due diligence requirements of the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Act. He has also worked with the Australian timber industry and the Australian Government on industry illegal logging due diligence toolkits to minimise the risk of procuring illegally logged wood. These are based on his research on the practices of importers in the United States and Europe.
He has initiated and implemented numerous timber waste strategic and market development focused product stewardship projects (many available at www.timberstewardship.org.au). Stephen has also prepared a successful NSW EPA compliant specific resource recovery exemption for a Sydney-based recycler as well as specifications and quality control guidelines for recovered timber wastes including poultry bedding.
With thinkstep Australasia he co-authored and updated six independently verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for Australian timber products which comply with the requirements of Green Star and the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia’s sustainability rating schemes. These Australian timber EPDs are the first “industry average” EPDs produced in Australasia. They are published with the Australasian EPD Programme which is a part of the International EPD System and WoodSolutions.
Stephen has also prepared numerous CPD technical presentations and presented to over 2,000 building professionals as part of the WoodSolutions timber technical education programme.
Prior to this role, he was Project Officer for the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation, responsible for developing and delivering market development programs for increasing the recycling of timber, concrete, brick, glass and paper.
Stephen has a Certificate in Management and Leadership and a Masters in Environmental Management from the University of New South Wales. He is a member of the Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society (ALCAS), the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), the Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ), and the Association of Organic Recyclers Australia (AORA). He is also the current Chair of the Australasian EPD Programme.
Where needed Stephen Mitchell Associates partners with other consultancies including thinkstep Australasia and Jackson Environment and Planning to provide comprehensive services for your business.
Some of our clients
