Maria Tsakona is an International Waste Management Consultant with over 18 years of experience in the solid waste management sector. She is the owner of the Qgreen consultancy firm (qgreen.gr) and has been a senior expert in GRID-Arendal Waste and Marine Litter (grida.no) since 2019. She has directed and managed environmental engineering projects in various geographies, including Jordan, Turkey, Israel, the Balkan Region, Brazil, Indonesia, Maldives etc. Tsakona's expertise includes solid waste management, circular economy principles, and innovative environmental protection solutions. She has contributed to feasibility studies and environmental impact assessments, providing insights for sustainable waste management policies. Tsakona has experience managing diverse waste streams, including infectious waste, green waste, biowaste, plastic waste, and special waste. She has also contributed to initiatives targeting marine litter, plastic recycling, and plastic pollution mitigation.

Since 2017, she has been chairing the ISWA Women of Waste Task Force, which focuses on gender equality in the waste management sector. Her work has brought her into collaboration with a diverse range of global organizations, including USAID Clean Cities Blue Ocean Program, GIZ, WIEGO, UNEP, and others. Currently, she focuses on the Just Transition of the informal recycling sector under the lead of GRID-Arendal.