Mary Gaerty is the co-founder and chairperson of Green Skip Services Ltd, a waste management and consultancy company founded in 1992. Understanding the potential long-term environmental impacts of waste management in the context of the limited knowhow available in Malta at the time, she opted to prioritise education and training, looking to the then Institute for Waste Management (IWM, later the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management) for professional formation and capacity building. It was through the IWM that her first certification, specifically in the Management of Clinical Waste
was obtained.

In this respect she took the initiative to take the discussion to the relative authorities, raising awareness and highlighting the importance of personal safety for staff, for proper packaging and for safe disposal. She subsequently successfully obtained certification in numerous other areas of waste management, including packaging, export, categorisation and safety. She has also served as her company’s Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor following certification to that effect.

In her efforts to raise awareness on the importance of environmental matters in her field, Mary Gaerty focused on education which was at the forefront of her efforts from the outset, including through school visits aimed at communicating to children the importance of environmental protection and of reusing, reducing and recycling, at a time when these notions were still years away from being incorporated into the national curriculum. She has also mentored numerous students working on their theses in areas related to her competence.

Ms Gaerty became a Full Member of the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management in 2016, following her presentation on Hazardous Wastes to the Board of Directors and Assessors. Her application to become a Fellow of the same institute is in progress.

Her advisory role to her clients still takes centre-stage in her professional life and to this end Ms Gaerty still prioritises education, keeping abreast with emerging methodologies, techniques and equipment on the market through international conference and exhibition attendance. She is also regularly invited to speak at conferences both in Malta and abroad.

Ms Gaerty is a past President of the National Council of Women (NCW), a post she held for 9 years, during which time she set up and chaired the Council’s Environment Committee. She also led projects on entrepreneurship, lobbied for more opportunities for women to enter the labour market, and raised awareness on domestic violence and human trafficking, amongst other issues.

Ms Gaerty is presently the Chairperson of the Recyclers Association and was until recent a member of the Environment and Energy Committee within the Malta Chamber of Commerce. She has served as the Vice Chair of the Environment Committee within the Federation of Industry.

She is currently a member and Vice Chair of the Civil Society Committee (CSC) within the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) in which capacity she represents the CSC at MCESD Council meetings. She has furthermore held the post of Chairperson of the Industrial Tribunal and participated as a speaker in numerous seminars. She sits on various Councils in representation of her company, the National Council of Women and herself.

Throughout her career, she has been involved in numerous consultation meetings dealing with the environment, particularly in the waste management sector, including issues linked with recycling options and circular economy.