Jean Darling is Founder and Managing Director of Cirque du Soil, a Social Traders certified social enterprise specialising in circular design and food waste recovery and management systems.
Based in Melbourne, Jean brings over 25 years of experience across the built environment, food systems and urban circular economy. With a Master’s in Architecture, accreditation as a Regenerative Practitioner (Regenesis Institute, USA) and certification in Circular Economy for Sustainable Built Environments (TU Delft), she works across the full arc of circular transition – from strategic vision to operational model design and on-ground implementation.
Food and organics sit at the centre of Jean’s practice. Through programs like the Community Compost Collective, Organics Advisory Service for hospitality precincts and LoopLab business mentoring, she has worked with hundreds of cafés, restaurants and food businesses on what actually happens to food waste once it leaves the bench – diagnosing which recovery systems and technologies suit which kitchen, and finding value in the streams most operators write off. Her GrowGood R&D project, funded (twice) by Sustainability Victoria, is working to turn food recycling machine outputs into commercial fertiliser and agrifeed products.
Her clients span hospitality and accommodation providers, local governments, creative industries, film productions and events – where the common thread is always the same: optimising systems for people, purpose and planet.