The Premier’s Sustainability Awards finalists have been detailed with a range of diversion from landfill projects, from waste to energy to medical and water recycling.
The winners from 10 categories will be announced at the awards ceremony on October 26, along with two overall winners selected by the Premier of Victoria in two categories. These include the Premier’s Regional Recognition Award for a finalist who has demonstrated notable benefits for regional Victoria and the Premier’s Recognition Award for a winner who showcases exemplary innovation and determination in overcoming obstacles in sustainability.
The 29 finalists come from a diverse range of backgrounds, and include:
- Enable Social Enterprises – Greener Futures Employability Program
A social enterprise program which provides employability skills programs that enables disadvantaged jobseekers to connect with community, improving their employment prospects and community cohesion. One of enable’s businesses is in eWaste.
- Soap Aid – Hotel to Hands Soap Recycling Program
A partnership with Rotary that collects, sorts, cleans and reprocesses discarded hotel soap and produces fresh, hygienic bars of soap for re-distribution to poor, disadvantaged communities around the world and remote Indigenous communities.
- Yarra Valley Water – Waste to energy facility
A waste to energy facility that saves food waste and processes it into biogas via anaerobic digestion, with plans to divert 33,000 tonnes of waste per year from landfill and power two treatment plants.
- Epworth Hospital Richmond – Perioperative services going green
A range of initiatives aims to address the excessive production of waste materials by ensuring reduced use of materials, reusing materials and recycling.
- Western Health – Single use metal instruments recycling program
Replicable program that recycles the hospital’s single-use metal instruments (SUMIs) – equating to approximately 500kgs of recycled steel, and representing 80 per cent of all SUMIs purchased.
- eWater Systems – Water recycling
eWater Systems has developed a ‘water-splitting’ technology used to clean and sanitise environments and facilities such as hospitals, schools, manufacturing businesses and restaurants.
- Sustainable Salons Australia – Beauty waste
A comprehensive resource recovery program that collects up to 95 per cent of waste from hundreds of hairdressing and beauty salons, then redirects all material for reuse, recycling and repurposing.
- TIC Mattress Recycling – Mattress recycling
Automated mattress recycling technology which addresses the growing problem of more than one million mattresses that go to landfill each year in Australia.
Featured image: Rebecca Pascoe, Nurse at Epworth Richmond Operating Theatres, shows off the hospital’s PVC and aluminium canister recycling program.