2023 WasteSMART Brisbane Awards
WasteSMART Councillors’ Choice Award
WINNER: Queensland Children’s Hospital
Finalists:
- Pallara State School
- Rotary Club of Brisbane Taylor Bridge
WasteSMART Champions Award
WINNER: The Worm Monger aka Hannah Churton
Finalists:
- Sue Moller
- Eve Tramacchi O’Keeffe
WasteSMART Community Award sponsored by Containers for Change Queensland
WINNERS:
OzHarvest <19 members
Brisbane Tool Library 20+ members
Finalists:
- Styling Station Australia
- Sandgate Bottle & Can Exchange
- Rocks Community Garden
- Recycling Hills District (RHD)
WasteSMART Business Award sponsored by Cleanaway
WINNERS:
Howard Smith Wharves (implemented waste-reduction strategies)
RAIS Industries (waste is core function)
Highly commended: MYMY
Finalists:
- Goodfolk Cafe
- Vision HQ
- Finn Biogas
WasteSMART Early Learning Award
WINNER: Milestones Early Learning Centre, Everton Park
Highly commended: Goodstart, Red Hill
Finalists:
- Jamboree Community Kindergarten
WasteSMART Schools Award
WINNERS: St Laurence’s College’s Urban Farm
Payne Road State School
Finalists:
- Hillbrook Anglican School
- Balmoral State High School’s Ecomarines
- Hendra State School
- The Gap State School Sustainability Club
WasteSMART Outstanding Award
WINNER: Sue Moller
WasteSMART People’s Choice Award sponsored by The University of Queensland
WINNER: St Laurence’s College’s Urban Farm
WasteSMART All-Star Award sponsored by Containers for Change Queensland
WINNER: Save Our Supplies
Highly Commended: Stationery Aid
Finalists:
- eWaste Connection
- Tarragindi Community Garden
2022 WasteSMART Brisbane Awards
WasteSMART Councillors’ Choice Award
WINNER: Peter Garland
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Mikah Wedemeyer and Lata Howey, Cannon Hill Anglican College
Finalists:
- Repair Cafe Brisbane Bayside
WasteSMART Champions Award
WINNER: Danielle Munro, CircMed
Finalists:
- Geneva Vanderzeil
- Ethan and Declan Heng
WasteSMART Community Award sponsored by Containers for Change Queensland
WINNERS: Stationery Aid & Project Yumi
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Care Kits for Kids Qld
Finalists:
- Tarragindi Community Garden
- Rocks Community Garden
- Taringa Community Garden
WasteSMART Business Award (19 or less employees) sponsored by Cleanaway
WINNER: eWaste CONNECTION Kenmore
Finalists:
- MYMY
- ART FOR EARTHLINGS
- Elysium Hair Brisbane
WasteSMART Business Award (20 or more employees) sponsored by Cleanaway
WINNER: Circonomy (formerly known as World’s Biggest Garage Sale)
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Biome
Finalists: CircMed
WasteSMART Early Learning Award sponsored by IKEA North Lakes & Logan
WINNER: Prior Street Child Care and Development
Finalists:
- Staverton Kindergarten
- Avenues Montessori Children’s House
WasteSMART Schools Award sponsored by Containers for Change Queensland
WINNERS: Windsor State School & Mount Gravatt State High School
Finalists:
- Marshall Road State School
- Lota State School
- St Peters Lutheran College
- The Gap State High School
WasteSMART Outstanding Award sponsored by IKEA North Lakes & Logan
WINNER: Tarragindi Community Garden
WasteSMART People’s Choice Award sponsored by The University of Queensland
WINNER: Mount Gravatt State High School
WasteSMART All-Star Award
WINNER: Renae McBrien
Finalists:
- Claire Lane, Save our Supplies
- Holly and Charli Garrity
2021 WasteSMART Brisbane Awards
Councillors’ WasteSMART Choice Award
WINNER: Karana Downs & Surrounds Community Garden Hub
Creating a community compost hub to utilise waste food and materials that would have otherwise gone to landfill and repurposing them to enhance the local area, teach the local population how to repurpose waste, regenerate bushland, grow vegetables and assist in the repopulation of endangered species.
Finalists:
- Leanne Hutton
- LEAD Childcare Wooloowin
Brisbane’s WasteSMART Champions Award
WINNER: Renae McBrien
A passionate individual working towards a sustainable goal to ‘design out waste’ from all daily domestic and commercial transactions. Her goal to mitigate waste from Brisbane landfill, is growing and being achieved through her personal leadership to create small diversion and resource recovery projects. She has volunteered over 850 hours since establishing the Tarragindi Community Garden; mitigated 9 tonnes of domestic and commercial organic waste since January 2020; and has educated over 1200 hospital staff to understand responsible waste management and clinical recycling methods.
HIGHLY COMMENDED:
Holly & Charli Garrity
Two sisters who run multiple activities in the community including collecting 40k containers for recycling, running clean up events, collecting over 80k plastic lids to recycle into prosthetic limbs for kids, bush care rehabilitation and running quarterly fashion swap events.
Finalists:
- Pamela Gibson
WasteSMART Community Award
JOINT WINNER: Ocean Crusaders Foundation Ltd
Are dedicated to keeping our waterways clean through hardcore clean ups, community group clean ups, new collection devices and their Caps Crusade. Their clean up program removed 54 tonne of debris from Brisbane over 58 days, and their community events had over 120 volunteers removing over 3 tonne of debris. Their Caps Crusade program has saved over 10 million caps from going to landfill, and their Automatic River Cleaner technology collect debris from the river 24/7.
JOINT WINNER: Tarragindi Community Garden
A community space that provides the local community with free harvest, garden produce, sustainable education sessions and drives their unique Recycling Hub. They have over 1000 social members and have giving out over 150 compost caddies that have rescued over 9 tonnes of food waste in the past 10 months.
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Care Kits for Kids Qld Inc
Collect donated fabric, wool and notions in the war on waste, and supply it to many community groups including partner In Stitches Brisbane, or individuals around Brisbane to create items to meet supplies needed for the Care Kits given to children in crisis or out-of-home care.
Finalists:
- Save Our Supplies
- eWaste Connection Limited
- Moreton Island Protection Committee
WasteSMART Business Award
WINNER (<19 employees): Vessel Nundah
Helping households reduce their single-use plastic waste associated with their use of skincare and cleaning products. Their customers to date have avoided the production, shipping, use and disposal of approximately 20,000 x 500mL single-use plastic containers, by refilling with Vessel Nundah.
WINNER (>20 employees): Howard Smith Wharves
A food and beverage precinct ensuring the waste that is generated across the many outlets is separated, segregated, and recycled. Resource recovery initiatives include: food and compostable waste, glass, cooking oil, cardboard, steel food tins, coffee and ice cream cups, co-mingled recycling, soft plastics, printer cartridges, e-waste, battery bins, polystyrene and waxed cardboard boxes. They welcome many businesses, schools and community groups to come and learn about their sustainability practices.
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Northshore Street Food & Arts Markets Pty Ltd
The venue has been able to reduce weekly landfill contribution by 2/3, saving 76.34m3 from landfill on a weekly basis. Weekly they save around one tonne of food scraps for drought affected regional farmers to use as animal feed, recycle up to 900L of cooking oil, and recycle 32 cubic metres of cardboard. Other initiatives include recycling oyster shells and collections through Containers for Change from which income is donated to the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Finalists:
- Olive Eco Hair
- Luna and Sun
- EarthCheck
WasteSMART Early Learning Award
WINNER: Bellbowrie Early Education Centre
Have implemented a new team of Sustainability Officers to look at the way waste is created in the centre and how it can be reduced. Activities include collecting containers, bottle caps for Ocean Crusaders, bread tags for the local Girl Guides, and batteries to be recycled; shredding waste paper to turn into paper bricks that families can use for fires, adding two new composting bins and worm farms for food waste, and collecting donated items from families to use in craft activities.
Finalists:
- Avenues Early Learning Centre Jindalee
- Avenues Early Learning Centre Bowen Hills
WasteSMART Schools Award
JOINT WINNER: Mt St Michael’s College
The environment group meet fortnightly and are looking at ways to make changes at the system level to maximise their waste reduction. Their five stage plan for the school includes implementing containers for change, school-wide commercial composting, compostable packaging at the school canteen, co-mingled recycling, and soft plastics recycling.
JOINT WINNER: Pallara State School Environment Club
This Environment Club consists of around 60 children from Year 3 to 6 who undertake a range of activities including a before-school session each Tuesday, including rostered collection of compost bins, worm farming, garden weeding and watering, plant propagation, environmental art, native animal nest box building and a subset of students running projects under the auspices of Eco-Marines. They also have an interest in native bees, having four hives on-site. Students host clean up events around school lunch areas, and sort through the rubbish to collect data for analysis.
Finalists:
- Greenslopes State School P&C
Outstanding WasteSMART Award
WINNER: Save Our Supplies
Are addressing wastage occurring in hospitals by providing an innovative and cost-effective way of eliminating clean medical waste in our hospitals and repurposing it so it can be used by people in desperate need of better health care. They have partnered with 10 of Brisbane’s largest hospitals. Since Jan 2020 their volunteer network of 25 people have saved an estimated 2.5 tonnes of medical waste to be re-purposed, and have supplied $1.5m worth of medical supplies to international communities in need.
Finalists:
- Care Kits for Kids Qld Inc
- Howard Smith Wharves
- Renae McBrien
People’s Choice WasteSMART Award
The public was invited to vote for the one winner in this category. This category comprises of finalists shortlisted by the judges across all categories.
WINNER: Mt St Michael’s College
The environment group meet fortnightly and are looking at ways to make changes at the system level to maximise their waste reduction. Their five stage plan for the school includes implementing containers for change, school-wide commercial composting, compostable packaging at the school canteen, co-mingled recycling, and soft plastics recycling.
2020 WasteSMART Brisbane Awards
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 because one of Council’s Community Composting Hubs.
Finalists:
- Sonya Kerslake
- Taringa Community Garden
Brisbane’s WasteSMART Champions Award
WINNER (6-17 years): 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.
WINNER (18+ years): 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 1,000 people in the past year and has an engaged social media community. She was also responsible for setting up the Tarragindi Community Garden.
Finalists:
- Christine Rafter
- Manny Findlay
WasteSMART Community Award
WINNER #1: OzHarvest Brisbane
OzHarvest rescues surplus food that would otherwise goes to waste from commercial businesses and delivers that food at no cost to charities feeding vulnerable Australians. During COVID-19, they developed #HospoHeroes to provide over 7,000 healthy meals for families, international students and other vulnerable groups with the help of restaurants, kitchens and caterers.
WINNER #2: eWaste Connection
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 6 days per week offering meaningful activities for over 70 persons with a disability. They also offer the community a convenient drop off location for unwanted e-waste.
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Repair Cafe Sandgate
Repair Cafe Sandgate provide a free meeting place where people can repair household items together with skilled volunteers. They have diverted almost 82kg from landfill and fixed 76% of the items brought in by visitors.
Finalists:
- Ocean Crusaders Foundation
- Northey Street City Farm
- ReThink Store
- Substation33
WasteSMART Business Award
WINNER (<5O Employees): 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 2/3, saving 76.34m2 from landfill each week.
WINNER (50+ Employees): Howard Smith Wharves
Howard Smith Wharves have achieved a landfill diversion rate of 81.85% 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 a social and environmental benefit.
Finalists:
- Loop Growers
- RECAN Create
- Biome
- Officeworks Adelaide Street
WasteSMART Schools Award
Winner (Primary School): Yeronga State School Green Team
Year 5 and 6 students in the Green Team meet weekly in four separate task forces to brainstorm, plan, and establish initiatives to help make their school more sustainable. The task force tackle Nude Food, Composting, Recycling and Litter.
Winner (Secondary School): Hillbrook Anglican School
Hillbrook has a goal to be zero waste and sort their bins into soft plastics, compostable, recyclables and landfill. They divert 1000L of waste each week. Their tuckshop has transitioned to compostable package 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.
Highly Commended #1: Lota State School
Students are committed to reduce 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 to be recycled into buoys through Ocean Crusaders, are part of the Containers for Change program, collect plastics for Redcycle, and compost their food scraps.
Highly Commended #2: 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.
Finalists:
- Graceville State School Green Team
- Mount Alvernia College
WasteSMART Kindy Award
WINNER: 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, compost as well as have a worm farm. Their parent committee have been making connections with their community as well as using social media and highlighting their sustainability practices to encourage new enrolments.
Finalists:
- Prior Street Child Care and Development
- 3-5 Space, Goodstart Early Learning
People’s Choice WasteSMART Award
The public was invited to vote for the one winner in this category. This category comprises of finalists shortlisted by the judges across all categories.
WINNER: Manny Findlay
Manny has become a local legend in his local 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.
Queensland Children’s Hospital
The Queensland Children's Hospital (QCH) are national leaders in resource recovery and developing community partnerships to reduce the impact of health on the planet. QCH actively diverts over 500 000kg of waste into 37 recycling streams which generates or saves Qld Health over $1.8 million dollars annually. Its organic waste strategy captures 85% of all food waste on site, diverting 21,953 kg of food waste to composting and 561kg of food to Oz Harvest.
QCH partners with Ecomarines, Substation 33, Rotary RARE, Save our Supplies, Reverse Garbage, Oz Harvest, National Battery Stewardship Council, Containers for Change, Brisbane Metal recyclers and local vets and animal charities to utilise the waste generated by a hospital to support local charities, communities groups and international aid.
Hannah Churton aka The Worm Monger
You may have seen Hannah Churton and her community verge vegetable garden on the newest season of ABC's War on Waste!
The Bardon resident started the garden as well as a compost hub to help her neighbourhood redirect their organic waste and in the last financial year, she diverted over 6 tonnes of organic waste from landfill.
Hannah also utilises her social channel @the_worm_monger to educate people on composting and verge gardens, reaching more than 20k followers.
Sue Moller
Sue Moller is incredibly passionate about suburban composting, backyard food growing, recycling and anything that reduces waste and landfill.
Since completing the ‘Master Composter’ course in 2021, the retired nurse has been helping neighbours, local schools and various community composting hubs in the Gap to reduce their waste.
Through setting up a composting system at The Gap State Primary School, collecting food waste from a local childcare centre, collecting 'Score Cards' from the local Golf Club to use in composting and providing a 'drop-off' point for Sharewaste members to dispose of their food scraps, Sue helps to divert 440kg of waste per month from landfill.
In her spare time, she also runs composting workshops at the Yoorala St Community Gardens.
OzHarvest Catering Services
OzHarvest has launched a new zero-waste catering service which goes beyond providing food at corporate events.
The service educates and empowers corporates to make a positive impact on the environment.
In the last financial year this not-for-profit's new initiative delivered 23,474 meals, diverted 11 tonnes of food from landfill, saved 1,678,391 litres of water and prevented 22,300 kgs of greenhouse emissions from entering the atmosphere.
Brisbane Tool Library
Brisbane Tool Library is a community-driven circular economy social enterprise that works towards waste reduction by encouraging people to borrow tools, camping gear and other equipment.
The inventory of the Brisbane Tool Library made of rescued items from landfill and donations has grown from a dozen items in 2017 to a range of 2000+ items in 2023.
The library now serves members from 63 different suburbs and with over 10,000 loans, BTL has saved the Brisbane community more than one million dollars!
Howard Smith Wharves
With restaurants, cafes, bars, and a brewery that supply food and beverage across the Howard Smith Wharves (HSW) precinct, their core sustainability focus has been around ensuring that waste generated across the many outlets is separated, segregated and recycled.
They have created a dedicated sustainability team who work with all venues at the wharves to achieve their recycling targets.
In the last financial year HSW has diverted 96% of its waste (over 4,523 tonnes) from landfill. This is the equivalent of 23 adult blue whales.
RAIS Industries
Razia Ansari started RAIS (Recycle Apparel Innovation Sustainability) Industries more than a decade ago, collecting unwanted garments from households and garage sales and since then has grown the organisation to partner with major charity organisations across QLD and NSW.
In the last 10 years RAIS has diverted approximately half a million tonnes of textiles from landfill by finding ways to reuse it and help people in the community that need secondhand clothing.
RAIS is now one of the biggest resellers of used clothes in Queensland and collects more than 50 tonnes of textiles per month.
St Laurence’s College
In 2015 a Geography teacher had a big idea - to create an urban farm in the grounds of St Laurence's College, less than 2kms from the Brisbane CBD. Since then, the school has transformed a barren, long rectangular space wedged between a multilevel carpark and a giant concrete retaining wall into a viable green space that supports food production in the city and a platform for educating about sustainability.
With the help of a small group of likeminded colleagues and students and no start-up funding, this plot of approximately 400sqm now grows edible plants, native plants and raises animals (chickens, ornamental fish, native red-claw crayfish, native jade perch, native silver perch, native bees, composting worms). Its bottom line is that all farm assets and activities must produce food or contribute to a food producing system (permaculture, raised beds, pots, wicking beds, hydroponics, aquaponics, vertical gardens, worm farm, egg production, beehives, organics composting, reusing and repurposing materials).
In the last financial year, the school diverted 100kg of shredded paper into their worm farms, 300kg of fruit and vegetable scraps from the canteen to the worm farm and chicken coop and produced 500kg compost and 100 litres of liquid fertilizer aka ‘worm tea’.
Payne Road State School
Payne Road State School runs the Environmental Leader's Workshop which hosts more than 11 cluster schools to come and learn about sustainability and the environment. The school also runs a stall at their local member of Parliament (Jonty Bush's) Eco Forum where the children educate the local community about all of the ways they are contributing to a cleaner environment.
The school has an established Junior and Senior Environment Club that meets every week. This enables the children to ensure the grounds are looked after and taken care of, from overseeing the native bees and Indigenous plants, to maintaining the vegetable gardens and compost bins.
Students also manage the classrooms electricity usage and have a designated spot-on assembly to award the most energy efficient classroom.
They are also part of the Tangalooma Ecomarines program and this year they have encouraged students to have a "wrapper free Wednesday", to help minimise the amount of single use plastics at the school.
Milestones Early Learning Centre Everton Park
Milestones Everton Park has implemented a clothes swap which is available daily for parents to swap children’s clothes. This has helped to foster an understanding of the importance of sustainable practices, while assisting families facing the rising cost of living. Through the clothes swap the centre has also donated items to the Northwest Community Projects that help provide clothing and essentials to the needy.
Their sustainability practices don’t end there though, they also have a worm farm and composter to reduce food waste as well as an edible garden. They also recycle containers with Containers for Change.
Save Our Supplies
Save Our Supplies (SOS) is a not-for-profit charity which has developed an innovative and cost-effective way to divert our hospital’s unusable, clean medical waste from landfill while at the same time, providing crucial medical care across the globe.
As a theatre nurse here in Brisbane, Claire Lane was appalled by the waste in her hospital. Spurred into action, she founded SOS in the granny flat she was living in to address the issue.
By simply introducing brightly coloured SOS bin in theatres, this not-for-profit organisation has been able to save clean, unused medical supplies that would have gone to landfill. The bins are then collected by Claire and her volunteers weekly and sorted at the warehouse before being donated to developing nations..
SOS currently partners with 15 Brisbane hospitals and will expand into most hospitals in Southeast Queensland now they’ve received the Queensland Health waste removal tender.
Over the last financial year thanks to their team of three employees and 15-20 volunteers who spent a total of 50 hours each week collecting and sorting supplies, around 20 tonnes of supplies were prevented from going to landfill and approximately $1.5 million dollars' worth of supplies were donated to developing nations.
Claire Lane of Save our Supplies won the Outstanding WasteSMART Award in 2021, making her organisation an All-Star finalist for 2023.