WasteSMART Brisbane Awards
Brisbane City Council developed the WasteSMART Brisbane Awards to recognise and celebrate the achievements of residents and groups who work together for a clean and green city. Council has partnered with CitySmart to deliver the awards.
Categories
There are seven award categories, 11 awards and a prize pool worth more than $4000. The categories are:
- Councillors WasteSMART Choice Award
- Brisbane WasteSMART Champions Award
- WasteSMART Community Award
- WasteSMART Kindy Award
- WasteSMART Schools Award
- People's Choice WasteSMART Award.
2020 winners
The winners of the 2020 WasteSMART Brisbane Awards were announced on 25 November 2020.
| Award | Award recipient | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Councillors' WasteSMART Choice Award - Winner | Kingfisher Recycling Centre | Kingfisher Recycling Centre is a place for students to learn valuable skills while helping the environment. They have branched out into the community to become a place for volunteers and waste minimisation enthusiasts, and have recently become one of Council’s Community Composting Hubs. |
| Brisbane's WasteSMART Champions Award (6-17 years) - Winner | Ethan Heng | Ethan has hosted 3 community clean up days with his mum that focus on educating other young participants about the environment. He collected 739 pieces of rubbish on his school break and shared this experience in his school newsletter. |
| Brisbane's WasteSMART Champions Award (18+) - Winner | Renae McBrien | Renae delivers vast waste reform and education across health care services in Brisbane, by introducing recycling streams that divert hospital waste to be reused and repurposed. She has delivered education on waste to over 1000 people in the past year and has an engaged social media community. She was also responsible for setting up the Tarragindi Community Garden. |
| WasteSMART Community Award - Winner | OzHarvest Brisbane | OzHarvest rescues surplus food that would otherwise go to waste from commercial businesses and delivers that food at no cost to charities feeding vulnerable Australians. During the coronavirus pandemic, they developed #HospoHeroes to provide over 7000 healthy meals for families, international students and other vulnerable groups with the help of restaurants, kitchens and caterers. |
| WasteSMART Community Award - Winner | eWaste Connectin | eWaste Connection operates an electrical waste recycling centre. As a community resource, they offer valuable work experience for individuals with a disability or disadvantaged background, and volunteering opportunities for people in Brisbane’s western suburbs. They operate six days a week offering meaningful activities for over 70 people with a disability. They also offer the community a convenient drop off location for unwanted e-waste. |
| WasteSMART Community Award - Highly Commended | Repair Cafe Sandgate | Repair Cafe Sandgate provides a free meeting place where people can repair household items together with skilled volunteers. They have diverted almost 82 kilograms from landfill and fixed 76% of the items brought in by visitors. |
| WasteSMART Business Award (less than 50 employees) - Winner | Northshore Street Food and Art Markets | Northshore Street Food and Art Markets as owners of Eat Street Northshore have significantly reduced their general waste over the past 18 months, with their weekly landfill contribution reduced by two thirds, saving 76 cubic metres from landfill each week. |
| WasteSMART Business Award (more than 50 employees) - Winner | Howard Smith Wharves | Howard Smith Wharves have achieved a landfill diversion rate of 82% with an aspiration goal to become zero-waste. They have initiated a take-back program where delivered goods are transferred to reusable tubs before being given back to suppliers. They implement recycle and resource activities that provide social and environmental benefits. |
| WasteSMART Schools Award (primary school) - Winner | Yeronga State School (Green Team) | Year 5 and 6 students in the Green Team meet weekly in four separate taskforces to brainstorm, plan, and establish initiatives to help make their school more sustainable. The taskforces tackle nude food, composting, recycling and litter. |
| WasteSMART Schools Award (secondary school) - Winner | Hillbrook Anglican School | Hillbrook has a goal to be zero waste and sort their bins into soft plastics, compostable, recyclables and landfill. They divert 1000 litres of waste each week. Their tuckshop has transitioned to compostable packaging and their waste management strategies complement other initiatives around the school such as teaching 'circular economy' units with project-based learning, energy reduction campaigns and land for wildlife work. |
| WasteSMART Schools Award (secondary school) - Highly commended | Lota State School | Students are committed to reducing waste through weekly wrapper-free lunch days, emu parades, annual toy and book swaps, and educational programs about the effects of litter. They have started a bottle top collection with the tops to be recycled into buoys through Ocean Crusaders. They area also part of the Containers for Change program, collect plastics for Redcycle, and compost their food scraps. |
| WasteSMART Schools Award (secondary school) - Highly commended | Calamvale Community College | Calamvale Community College run a joint community and school initiative to maximise environmental education, student outcomes and waste reduction. They recycle approximately 10,000 containers per month with over $10,000 raised. |
| WasteSMART Kindy Award | Geebung Community Kindy | As part of an ongoing collaboration with EcoBiz, this centre has implemented water saving techniques such as half flush cisterns and rainwater tanks. They reuse water from play, recycle materials and compost, and have a worm farm. Their parent committee has been making connections with their community as well as using social media and highlighting their sustainability practices to encourage new enrolments. |
|
People's Choice WasteSMART Award Note - the public was asked to vote for one finalist from all finalists across all categories. |
Manny Findlay | Manny has become a local legend in his community by actively cleaning his local parks and advocating to keep his suburb clean through recycling and litter prevention. He does community announcements with his local councillor, offers a wheelie bin cleaning service, and has been featured on Channel 7 News. |
More information
For more information on the WasteSMART Brisbane Awards, you can: