2014 Banksia Award winners announced

The Banksia Foundation has announced the winners of the 2014 Banksia Awards. The foundation aims to raise the profile of the current sustainability issues facing Australia and recognise those whose initiatives are an encouragement and an example for others to follow.

The prestigious Banksia Gold Award was presented to ACT Solar Auction, ACT Environment and Planning Directorate (also the winner of the Local Government Sustainability award). The ACT was the first jurisdiction in Australia to use an innovative reverse auction process to award a large-scale feed-in tariff. By taking that risk, the government set a new national standard for feed-in tariff allocation and affordable renewable energy.

The other winners are below.

The Environment Minister’s Award for a Cleaner Environment: Millicent Mill, Kimberly-Clark Australia and New Zealand, SA

Kimberly-Clark has been recognised for the following achievements at its South Australian manufacturing site in Millicent: improvements to the site’s wastewater; collaboration with the local community to restore biodiversity and drive the establishment of a breeding program for the critically endangered Yarra Pygmy Perch; more than halving the site’s energy and carbon footprint over the past five years; diverting 95% of the site’s manufacturing waste from landfill.

The Richard Pratt - Banksia CEO Award: Damien Walsh, Managing Director bankmecu, Vic

Damien Walsh’s motivation to continue to lead bankmecu’s sustainability agenda is borne out of a belief that the bank has a primary responsibility to deliver value to its customers who also own the bank, while at the same time meeting their expectations that the bank will contribute to a fairer, more equitable and sustainable world.

Large Business Sustainability Leadership: The GPT Group, NSW

GPT’s vision is to maximise the financial potential of Australian property with solutions that fulfil the aspirations of its investors, tenants and communities. With sustainability integrated into the company’s strategy, its business objectives are underpinned with an aligned organisational culture, effective stakeholder engagement and good governance and business processes that embed sustainability practices into its day-to-day operations.

Small to Medium Business Sustainability Leadership: Psaros-Leading By Doing, Psaros, WA

Psaros is a carbon-neutral property development company which integrates sustainability initiatives into its apartments. The company has become Australia’s leading mid-tier property developer to implement sustainability infrastructure with the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) in multiresidential apartment buildings.

Innovation in Social Infrastructure > $100 Million: Making it exemplar - the North West Rail Link, Transport for NSW

The North West Rail Link (NWRL) is Australia’s biggest public transport project and has a vision to achieve new benchmarks in sustainable infrastructure delivery. NWRL has developed an approach that ensures that it will deliver and promote infrastructure sustainability in terms of objectives, targets and measurable outcomes against key policy themes across the project life cycle.

Leadership in Citizenship and Communities: Garage Sale Trail, Garage Sale Trail Foundation, NSW

Garage Sale Trail is a national grass roots waste education program and champion of the REUSE movement. The Garage Sale Trail is enabled by a technology framework and community awareness campaign that encourages Australian households, community groups, charities, schools and local organisations to get involved and register for one big day of garage sales nationally.

Sustainable Water Management: The Barwon Water Biosolids Management, Plenary Group, Vic

The Barwon Water Biosolids Management Project provides an environmentally sustainable, large-scale, regional management solution for biosolids. The creation of the Barwon Water Biosolids Management Facility transforms biosolids produced as part of the wastewater treatment process into a financially valuable and easily manageable product for beneficial re-use as farm fertiliser.

Natural Capital: Tasmanian Midlands, Bush Heritage Australia, Vic

The Midland Conservation Fund aims to conserve biodiversity on farms in the Tasmanian Midlands by offering farmers new stewardship agreements to pay for long-term conservation management on their land. The fund is a partnership between Bush Heritage Australia and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy and will help farmers safeguard the last pieces of remnant native grasslands and grassy woodlands without the need to acquire land.

Innovator of the Year: Better Buildings Partnership, Better Buildings Partnership, NSW

The Better Buildings Partnership is a collaboration between Sydney’s commercial landlords that is unlocking improvements to building sustainability, performance and value - like waste management, on-site energy and green leasing - previously thought impractical or impossible. As a partnership, the group is capable of lowering hurdles for important improvements to buildings.

Education for Sustainability: The Liveability Real Estate Framework - Training and Tools for the Next Generation of Real Estate, LJ Hooker Corporate, NSW

The Liveability Real Estate Framework was developed in collaboration with the sustainable design, construction and assessment industries in order to address a significant shortfall of training and knowledge in the marketing, selling and renting of environmentally sustainable homes within the residential real estate industry. The framework empowers the property marketing industry to move confidently from being a barrier to a catalyst in supporting the sustainable property market.

Product Sustainability - through design, manufacture and use: Fostering a climate of collaboration to transform road maintenance problems into an environmentally, financially and socially sustainable solution, EarthCo Projects, Vic

Earthco Projects has developed PolyCom Stabilising Aid - a road stabiliser used for the construction and maintenance of sealed and unsealed roads, road shoulders, airstrips and other pavements. A cost-effective and sustainable alternative to traditional soil stabilisation, PolyCom creates a stronger, longer lasting pavement and offers significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, water usage and maintenance expenses.

Indigenous Leadership for Sustainability: Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge (IBK) Working Group, ACEAS, NSW

The deep knowledge of Indigenous people is being called on by the Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge (IBK) Working Group as part of a nationwide effort to stem the tide of extinction and decline that is engulfing Australian environments. Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are working on hundreds of projects across Australia to understand and better manage Country.