Premier's Sustainability Awards – 2023 winners and finalists
Sustainability Victoria is proud to showcase the 2023 winners and finalists of the Premier’s Sustainability Awards.
These organisations and individuals span industry, businesses, government, charities, social enterprises and not-for-profits. They are trailblazers who are leading the way in Victoria’s transition to a circular, climate-resilient economy. Read on and be inspired.
Winners were announced at the Premier’s Sustainability Awards Ceremony at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Federation Square on 23 November 2023.
Circular economy innovation
Community Champion Winner: Wholefoods Unwrapped Collective
In the hospitality and food-service sectors, delivering produce creates a significant amount of waste in the form of packaging destined for landfill. Wholefoods Unwrapped minimises this waste by using durable and reusable containers from paddock to plate.
This circular economy solution inspires food providers and customers to think differently about the impact of waste generation on the environment by removing their dependence on energy-intensive and unnecessary packaging. Importantly, it also translates those thoughts into specific and measurable action.
Wholefoods Unwrapped reaches 2,400 customers, with 100-plus regular customers, 45 food manufacturers, and 50-plus primary producers. This solution diverts up to 15 tonnes of non-organic waste from landfill annually with reusable containers for food transportation, enabling customers and businesses to adopt sustainable practices.
Industry Leader Winner: ecologiQ
Australia is on the verge of a waste crisis as the world’s largest recycling markets offshore bans waste exports, and Victoria’s landfills approach capacity.
The Victorian Government’s ecologiQ program responded to this with its Recycled First Policy. This Australian-first policy requires contractors delivering major Victorian transport projects to use as much recycled and reused content as possible.
Since the policy was implemented in 2020, more than 3.3 million tonnes of recycled materials have been committed across 51 projects – more than enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Recycled First is inspiring the broader infrastructure sector to think differently about waste and deliver greener infrastructure for all Australians.
Finalists
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Nutri V turns surplus vegetables that would otherwise go to waste on farms into vegetable powders and snacks, giving food waste a second life and farmers an additional revenue stream.
The project has created a sustainable circular economy solution by converting what was waste food and food loss from production into valuable and nutritional vegetable powders that can benefit the entire supply chain. It has done this by capturing what would otherwise be dumped food waste and moving to a 100% yield model of production from an average 75% yield.
In just the first 5 months of operation, Nutri V saw 18T of vegetables diverted from landfill and added 150,000 serves of vegetables into the supply chain.
The company is a collaboration between Fresh Select, a leading fresh-produce supplier with over 60 years of Australian farming history, and Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
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Open Sauce is a collaboration between food social enterprises in the Moving Feast Network, which understands that waste is not just a problem but an opportunity to create something valuable. It is led by social enterprise STREAT and dedicated to transforming Victoria's food system into one that is fair, regenerative, and connected.
By diverting and repurposing the businesses’ collective waste, the initiative creates a range of edible and non-perishable products that promote sustainability and social change.
Open Sauce reduces the amount of food sent to landfill and greenhouse gas emissions by harnessing the power of collaboration and ingenuity, transforming overlooked resources into high-quality, sustainable products. -
The founders of Natural Growth Partners each have more than 30 years of commercial landscaping experience. Over their careers they have planted thousands of trees in commercial builds, parks, wetlands, streetscapes and playgrounds, but have felt a growing frustration with industry-wide poor practice.
Too often trees are planted without consideration for their natural growth and the waste generated when planting them. Stakes used for planting are often made from hardwood, produced via deforestation, and workers face unsafe practices.After 5 years of development, Natural Growth Partners established Tree Coach, an all-in-one tree planting, staking, watering and light-protection solution for mature-tree planting. It’s improving tree health, worker safety, and efficiency, and delivering long-lasting environmental and sustainability benefits to Victorian and Australian communities.
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The Australian wine industry is already severely affected by climate change. Current round glass bottle packaging contributes to most of the wine industry’s emissions. To future-proof the wine industry, a more sustainable packaging solution is needed.
Packamama’s eco-flat wine bottle packaging solution is a flat-pack bottle made from 100% Australian-produced recycled PET. The flat bottles use half the space of traditional bottles, meaning less fuel is used to transport a larger quantity of wine in a single load. They are made from pre-existing materials and also weigh less, resulting in a reduction of up to 84% of energy used.
Packamama’s award-winning flat wine bottles are produced and filled in Victoria, and the company is working with Accolade Wines, Taylors Wines, and Coles Liquor.
Future energy
Community Champion Winner: Bunyip Renewables Action Group
Bunyip Renewables Action Group (BRAG) was created by Bunyip residents in 2020 in response to the increasingly alarming effects of climate change. It aims to reduce the carbon footprint of the Bunyip district by facilitating the town's switch to renewable energy.BRAG has already helped several organisations and residents to reduce their carbon footprints. Thanks to seed-grant funding, BRAG is working to progress a 0.8m MWh solar farm and 1.6m MWh battery installation project in the south of the township.
Several smaller projects, workshops and grants have helped Bunyip residents learn about renewable energy and resources. BRAG has also made valuable connections with local government, other renewable energy groups, local volunteer groups, and businesses.
Industry Leader Winner: Kinetic Melbourne
The Zero Emissions Bus Depot aims to deliver a cleaner, greener bus network for Victorians. It involves upgrading electrical infrastructure at Kinetic’s Sunshine West and Heatherton depots to house and charge a new fleet of 36 Battery Electric Buses (BEB) – the largest BEB fleet of any Victorian bus operator. This initiative supports the Victorian Government’s target to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
New undercover bays were built to provide weather protection and charging infrastructure was installed for the buses. More than 300 solar panels were also installed to reduce the depot’s carbon footprint and electricity to power the buses is 100% green via a carbon-offset program.
Finalists
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Baptcare Affordable Housing’s pilot project in environmental sustainability and energy efficiency is a groundbreaking affordable housing project in Sunshine. The 20 new residences include 8 PassivHauses.
Homes Victoria and Baptcare have collaborated on this project using a resident-centred approach. PassivHaus design dramatically minimises a building’s energy requirement while taking advantage of natural factors for heating and cooling, allowing savings of up to 90% compared to typical building stock, and up to 75% compared to average new builds.
The development provides housing support for larger families, sole parents, financially disadvantaged people, people experiencing family or domestic violence, and older Victorians who meet the criteria for social/affordable housing.
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Barwon Water, Barwon Health and Geelong Port joined forces to establish the Barwon Renewable Energy Partnership (BREP), securing a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Mt Gellibrand Wind Farm to supply a combined 68GWh per year of renewable electricity, commencing in 2022.
Renewable PPAs are a practical and cost-effective approach to sourcing zero-emissions renewable electricity from large-scale wind and solar farms via the electricity grid.
As the BREP members transition to 100% renewable electricity and strive to reach net zero carbon emissions, partnering has provided access to affordable clean energy and had a multiplier effect on outcomes that would not have been reached had the members acted alone.
The BREP PPA achieved several firsts in Victoria: regional Victoria’s first multi-sector PPA (second in Victoria after the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project’s PPAs), and the first PPA in both Victoria’s public health and international ports sectors.
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More than one in 4 Victorians (26%) live in apartments or townhouses, and this number is forecast to grow. The Unlocking Sustainable Strata program believes these residents must not be left behind in the transition to clean energy. It is a first-step model to generate systemic change throughout the strata sector by providing residents, owners’ corporations and strata managers with tailored, practical and evidence-based guides for cost-effective sustainability solutions in their properties.
The program was developed by Yarra and Merri-bek City Councils in partnership with HIP V. HYPE, The Knight, and Strata Community Association Victoria (SCA Vic). Five customised, plain English guides have been downloaded 710 times. The program has engaged with 563 people and, via SCA Vic, 52 strata managers. -
Knox City Council, Maroondah City Council and Yarra Ranges Shire Council have partnered with their local library service, Your Library, to offer My Energy and Water Saver Kits, giving residents the tools to understand their utility use and take steps to reduce it.
The initiative demonstrates how collaboration can support community to lower emissions and resource use, facilitate equitable lending of shared resources, and provide an economy of scale typically out of reach for an individual council.
The My Energy and Water Saver Kits have shown that residents want to measure and take action on their energy use, save on utilities, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The strong partnership developed through this initiative highlights the benefits of resource sharing to enable a high-quality outcome for community.
Healthy and fair society
Community Champion Winner: Assembled Threads
Assembled Threads creates meaningful, purposeful employment and training for culturally and linguistically diverse garment artisans. It provides a flexible manufacturing hub where no one is hindered by a lack of English or education, or is discriminated against because of age or religion.
It champions locally made, recycled-first uniform options for the construction and health industries, providing practical solutions and supporting companies to be responsible and accountable for the end-of-life stewardship of their uniform procurement pipelines.
Assembled Threads produced a range of hi-vis vests sourced completely from recycled material components and grew its range of scrubs, hoodies and shirts made from locally made fabrics to move towards circular work apparel, saving an estimated 2117.5 kg of emissions associated with textile landfill waste.
Industry Leader Winner: Geelong Sustainability
Geelong Sustainability’s Climate Safe Rooms program offers free home energy upgrades for low-income households where at least one resident received home-care support services for an existing chronic health condition that puts them at risk during heatwaves and extreme cold.
The project upgraded an existing room in the home to prevent uncomfortably hot summer or cold winter temperatures. This was done with draught sealing, insulation, efficient appliances, and renewable energy. The results were a significant improvement in comfort and mental health outcomes, and reduced electricity usage of up to 3,800 kWh per household.
The project reduces the burden on the public health system and contributes to a happier and healthier community.
Finalists
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Bendigo Sustainability Group's Solar on Low Income Homes project started as a crowdfunding initiative that successfully installed fully funded solar PV (photovoltaic) systems on the homes of 15 local families in financial need, significantly reducing their cost-of-living. The project aimed to bring equal access to renewable energy during this important transition time for Victoria, and it kept funds local by working with trusted local solar installers.
The success of this pilot program, delivered in collaboration with Bendigo Community Health Services, allowed Bendigo Sustainability Group to continue its fundraising. It currently has another project underway delivering 30 solar installations for deserving local homeowners. -
Darebin Loves Bikes is inspired to build an inclusive, vibrant culture of bike riding in Darebin. Bike riding is a healthy, enjoyable, zero-emissions, affordable way to travel. Not everyone has the skills and confidence to ride, or access to a working bicycle. Darebin City Council works closely with local partners to empower people who live, work or study in Darebin to start pedalling.
Inclusive, low-cost Bike Skills Workshops, personalised journey planning advice and the popular Darebin Loves Bikes e-newsletter, give people the support, resources, skills, and experience they need to ride a bike. The cornerstone Free Monthly Bike Check project has helped hundreds of people get back on their bike, learn lifelong bike maintenance skills, and keep second-hand bikes out of landfill.
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Living and Learning Pakenham and Swinburne PrimeSCI!’s Community Alliance for Waste Reduction and Sustainability (CAWRS) brings together community gardens, neighbourhood houses and businesses across Melbourne’s eastern and southern suburbs to act collectively towards a future with fewer landfills.
CAWRS is also working closely with Traditional Owner groups, including the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and the Wurundjeri Tribe, to ensure that their voices and knowledge base are incorporated into messaging encouraging others to respect the natural environment.
Over 18 months through tailored community education and workshops, working bees, and the establishment of Community Compost Hubs, CAWRS diverted 27 tonnes of organic, recyclable, and reusable resources from landfill, including:
- hardwood pallets
- food waste
- bread lids and tags
- coffee cups
- furniture
- bicycles.
CAWRS’s platform also features voices and perspectives on sustainability and waste reduction from people who identify as Rohingyan, Afghani, South Sudanese, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung, Bunurong/Boon Wurrung and Banyjima/Ngoongar.
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The Hotels to Hands circular economy soap recycling program, run by Victorian charity and social enterprise Soap Aid, works with accommodation providers to collect, sort, clean and reprocess their soap into fresh, hygienic soap bars that are then distributed to targeted communities.
Between 2021 and 2022, Soap Aid saved more than 10 tonnes of soap from landfill and made 80,000 new life-saving bars. This saved 14.77 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions and 6,204 litres of fuel.
Sustainable places
Community Champion Winner: Brimbank City Council
The Brimbank Aquatic and Wellness Centre is a 100% renewable-energy powered, zero-greenhouse-gas emissions aquatic centre.
An integrated 4-pipe heat pump for simultaneous use in the pool, domestic water, space heating, and cooling is combined with a heat recovery system, a 500 kW onsite rooftop solar PV (photovoltaic) system, and a thermal energy storage system with a capacity of 88,000 L.
Compared to a conventional gas-powered design, the all-electric and renewable-energy-powered centre is 76% more energy-efficient and is modelled to avoid 1,192 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year. This is an approximately 17% reduction of council’s overall annual greenhouse gas emissions.
The project challenges the status quo of building and operating energy-intensive, gas-fuelled aquatic centres and provides a working example that can be replicated in Victoria and across Australia.
Industry Leader Winner: Nightingale Housing
Six leading architecture firms came together through Nightingale Housing to acquire the Nightingale Village site in 2017. They shared Nightingale’s goal to reorient the Australian housing market towards providing homes for people rather than as an investor commodity.
The resulting precinct sets a new standard for sustainable, people-centred design. Each firm brings their vision to the site and shares spaces and facilities to ensure the best quality of life for residents and a high standard of environmental sustainability across the precinct.
Nightingale Village is 100% electric and includes 203 homes across 6 buildings, with 8 commercial street-level tenancies and 27 homes allocated to community housing providers ahead of public sales. The precinct also includes 17 small-footprint Teilhaus homes and just 20 car spaces, with 14 reserved for share cars.
Finalists
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Purchasing its Trust for Nature property in 2018, Architect Brew Koch discovered the management of its grassy woodland was all-consuming and incredibly rewarding. Inspired to build a sustainable farmhouse, they aimed to demonstrate a project that has reciprocal benefits for the land and local community as a model for architectural practice and education.
Architect Brew Koch is a small architectural partnership that also teaches at RMIT University. They worked with local stakeholders to understand the Indigenous landscape before designing and building a predominantly off-grid farmhouse with minimal site impact that relies on in-situ resources to operate, including for powering tools.
Architect Brew Koch plans to broaden the discussion in the local environmental, farming, and national architectural communities about collective responsibility to the land.
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Carbon neutral in construction and set up operation, Ferrars and York by HIP V. HYPE is powered 100% by Green Power. The project comprises 22 carbon-neutral apartments in South Melbourne with an average energy rating of 8.6 stars, with the highest performing apartment achieving 9.3 stars out of 10.
Located on a narrow piece of land adjacent to the South Melbourne light rail and 100m from South Melbourne Market, the project is an exemplar of the potential for responsible use of under-utilised land in our cities.
Ferrars and York apartments provide more comfort for residents via consistent air temperatures, better acoustic performance, lower energy bills and a lower carbon footprint. -
In 2015, Riverlee acquired a 51-hectare site in Epping, now known as New Epping. Formerly a quarry, then a landfill, Riverlee engaged Helia EHS to conduct environmental due diligence. Its plan was to turn the site into a true mixed-use community and set a new standard for regeneration.
Now 151 affordable apartments are complete, and the 126-bed Northern Private Hospital is due for completion this year. Riverlee also continues to work with ecologists, landscape architects, and engineers to design the future habitat of the local growling grass frog, comprising 10 waterbodies near Edgars Creek, and the planting of 200,000 plants.
In February 2023, the development plan for the $2 billion mixed-use community was approved, marking the start of a world-leading urban renewal and regeneration story. -
The Eumemmerring Creek Bridge in Dandenong South was constructed as part of the Cranbourne Line Upgrade, delivered by the Level Crossing Removal Project’s (LXRP) Western Program Alliance (LXRP, Metro Trains Melbourne, McConnell Dowell, Mott MacDonald, and Arup).
Eumemmerring Creek is home to 2 endangered native freshwater fish species protected by the National Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act: dwarf galaxias and Australian graylings. The initiative ensured no work that could have a negative impact on the creek’s ecosystem took place, and looked for opportunities to create a thriving surrounding environment.
The project designed a 63-metre, 340-tonne steel, “floating” bridge without foundations or pillars dug into the waterway. This meant that creek's ecosystem was not disturbed and protected from adverse impacts.
Thriving environment
Community Champion Winner: My Smart Garden
My Smart Garden is a free sustainable gardening program supporting residents to transform their outdoor spaces, be they small rental balconies or larger suburban gardens, into productive, functional gardens.
My Smart Garden tackles climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource consumption, and increases health and wellbeing through food security, cost-of-living help, improving physical and mental health, and providing social connection.
Participants report that they feel more positive, that My Smart Garden is saving them money, and that the program is influencing other sustainability practices like buying local, cutting food waste, avoiding chemical use, participating in revegetation programs, and reducing consumption.
My Smart Garden is a cross-council collaboration between Hobsons Bay, Moonee Valley, Maribyrnong, Brimbank, Wyndham, Stonnington, Merri-bek, and Yarra City councils.
Industry Leader Winner: Cassinia Environmental
The Natural Agriculture Community model developed by Cassinia Environmental brings agriculture, biodiversity, and community together on a large scale. Cassinia addresses the competing interests of agriculture and biodiversity with a land-management model that maintains agricultural production at scale with enough human resources to maintain and enhance crucial biodiversity.
The project brings people into landscape-management that promote agricultural, nature, and community outcomes, while seeking significant co-benefits around Indigenous aspirations, animal welfare, and carbon.
The model, being developed on Cassinia Environmental's Rokewood property, uses a 'farm covenant' concept to create a binding legal instrument for high-quality conservation on the property. The model encourages community input with multiple ownerships over land, and a collective farming and biodiversity management plan that is effective and efficient.
Finalists
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Earthwatch Australia’s Kids Teaching Kids Distinctive Areas and Landscapes (DAL) program works with 1,121 students and teachers across the Bass Coast, Bellarine Peninsula, Macedon Ranges, and the Surf Coast. It promotes environmental behaviour change and sustainability action projects that protect the environment and environmentally and culturally significant spaces.
Funded by the Victorian State Government, DAL Capital Grants Program, the program worked with more than 50 local environmental stakeholders to provide 90-plus schools with immersive teaching and learning. The program strengthened community understanding of DAL policy domains including:- Aboriginal cultural heritage
- environment and biodiversity
- landscapes
- environmental risks and resilience
- water quality
- tourism
- natural resources.
Students are brought together through field-based experiential learning and networking at regional conferences to present environmental peer-teaching workshops and do citizen science, championing 129 environmental action projects across regional Victoria.
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Hume City Council’s Hume Enviro Champions program provides 10 free training sessions to community members to develop a community-driven environmental or sustainability project or initiative. The program supports people living, working, volunteering, or studying in Hume to run their own sustainability projects in the community.
Training includes: environmental and social issues, behaviour change, communication, community engagement, resourcing, and project planning
The program connects participants with likeminded people to nurture their passion for the environment and community, as well as those who have done the program in the past and other community initiatives or organisations. Projects have included seed libraries, bush tucker gardens, litter campaigns, advocacy groups, and biodiversity or conservation projects. -
The Port Phillip EcoCentre School Sustainability Festival is an annual event where local schools can celebrate and accelerate their environmental achievements. The 2022 festival was the largest and most impactful in-person event yet. 250 students from 17 schools took part, an increase of 30% since 2019. It is Victoria’s longest-running school sustainability festival providing a platform for student voice and leadership.
At the heart are student-led workshops that promote healthy environment habits and teach about environmental regeneration, protection, and conserving Melbourne’s local ecosystems. Participating schools are supported to implement new sustainability initiatives. These have included:
- designing and building nest boxes for endangered species
- installing native bee pollinator hotels
- upcycling activities
- introducing new waste-prevention activities, such as e-waste and composting.
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South East Water’s Leak Alert program empowers customers who have a digital meter to detect leaks and save money and water.
Digital meter technology enables South East Water to alert customers about continuous water usage. Customers receive a notification via SMS, email, or letter and instructions on how to conduct simple checks to help identify the cause of the potential leak.
Since launching the automated leak alert notifications process in May 2020, South East Water has supported customers to save more than 800 million litres of water and more than $3 million off their bills through over 25,000 leak alert notifications. Around 10% of South East Water digital meter customers have received a leak alert about a leak that may have gone unnoticed.
Waste and recycling solutions
Community Champion Winner: Porous Lane
Current impermeable roads contribute to flash flooding. Permeable pavements allow water to pass through the surface, reducing stormwater runoff and pollution in waterways. Current permeable pavements are not suitable for roads, but Porous Lane's cutting-edge solution provides robust, flood-free roads.
Porous Lane diverts Australian waste tyres from landfills by reusing them in an engineered permeable pavement. From 2021 to 2022, the initiative diverted 10,000 Australian waste tyres from landfill, giving them new life by installing more than 3,000 sqm of paths. The tyre waste replaced 50% of virgin material and may reduce greenhouse gas emissions in pavement construction by 40%.
Industry Leader Winner: UPPAREL
UPPAREL is Australia and New Zealand's leader in textile recovery and recycling. Its Textile Recycling Collection Program addresses the fashion industry's impact on the environment by:
- preventing textiles from reaching landfills
- extending the lifespan of clothing through efficient sorting and recycling
- raising awareness about the environmental impact of textile waste.
UPPAREL established a nationwide collection program to intercept textiles before they enter landfills, reducing soil and water contamination and greenhouse gas emissions. Through meticulous manual sorting garments are either reused, repurposed, or recycled, transforming waste into a valuable resource. The program has diverted more than 450,000 kg of textiles from landfill, equating to approximately 2.8 million individual clothing items and the prevention of approximately 1.6 million kg of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.
The initiative also educates the public, promoting responsible options for pre-loved textiles, and encouraging sustainable practices in the fashion industry.
Finalists
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Brainwave Bikes is Victoria's largest recycler and retailer of quality, affordable, and tested used bikes. It is reducing the estimated half of used bikes that end up in landfill. It also provides work experience and training as mechanics at 99 Bikes stores for unemployed young people living with disabilities, helping them to transition to mainstream employment with WISE Employment.
Brainwave Bikes donates bikes to refugee and low-income families via Chain Reaction and gift-a-bike donors, and sells used bikes online, in-store, and at pop-ups to students and families.
In the past year, Brainwave Bikes recycled or sold more than 1,000 (14,000 kgs) of used bikes, transitioned 9 unemployed young people into mainstream employment, and one into secondary education. -
Casafico, a family-owned, Victorian-based manufacturer, makes premium building materials from recycled waste. Its sustainable range includes Coharo Coatings and Tecoblock, lightweight and efficient construction options that replace scarce resources like sand and marble with recycled materials. The company actively collects waste and implements on-site recycling to reduce landfill use and disposal costs.
In the past year, Casafico increased the amount of waste it uses from 50% to 66%. It also introduced the world's first sustainable Venetian Plaster, made from glass instead of non-renewable marble. The company's glass recycling capacity increased from 34 metric tonnes per year to 30 metric tonnes per month. -
Racking Supply Australia’s EcoRackRevive repurposes commercial pallet racking and shelving. It diverts steel and wood from landfills and recycling to extend the lifespan of racking materials by reclaiming and reselling them, minimising the need for new production and reducing waste. This addresses the global challenge of excessive waste generation and fosters a more sustainable and circular economy.
EcoRackRevive creates a market for repurposed racking and shelving and encourages businesses and individuals to embrace sustainable waste management. It formed strategic partnerships with recycling facilities and businesses that enhance the project’s efficiency and impact, taking a collaborative approach to sustainable waste recovery and reduction. -
SisterWorks believes that work empowers women. Its Upcycled Banners Project is a collaboration with the City of Melbourne, Kathmandu, Gazman, Vandal, and Good Thing Productions. The project upcycles advertising banners into tote bags to be resold to the public, promoting sustainable waste practices.
This project also teaches migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeker women (Sisters) employability skills and helps them gain valuable Australian work experience in a safe environment. The project also raises awareness among the organisations that donate the materials (retail stores, music festivals, companies advertising cultural events) and the customers that purchase the upcycled products, which now also include lanyards and laptop cases.
Premier's Recognition Award
Winner: Assembled Threads
Assembled Threads creates meaningful, purposeful employment and training for culturally and linguistically diverse garment artisans. It provides a flexible manufacturing hub where no one is hindered by a lack of English or education, or is discriminated against because of age or religion.
It champions locally made, recycled-first uniform options for the construction and health industries, providing practical solutions and supporting companies to be responsible and accountable for the end-of-life stewardship of their uniform procurement pipelines.
Assembled Threads produced a range of hi-vis vests sourced completely from recycled material components and grew its range of scrubs, hoodies and shirts made from locally made fabrics to move towards circular work apparel, saving an estimated 2117.5 kg of emissions associated with textile landfill waste.
Premier's Regional Recognition Award
Winner: Geelong Sustainability
Geelong Sustainability’s Climate Safe Rooms program offers free home energy upgrades for low-income households where at least one resident received home-care support services for an existing chronic health condition that puts them at risk during heatwaves and extreme cold.
The project upgraded an existing room in the home to prevent uncomfortably hot summer or cold winter temperatures. This was done with draught sealing, insulation, efficient appliances, and renewable energy. The results were a significant improvement in comfort and mental health outcomes, and reduced electricity usage of up to 3,800 kWh per household.
The project reduces the burden on the public health system and contributes to a happier and healthier community.