Banksia Awards celebrating Australian sustainability innovation

| April 8, 2010

It’s easy to become numbed by media saturation and apparent inaction over the ‘big’ issues such as ETS, carbon emissions and greenhouse gas, but for a change I’d like to celebrate the positive.

Sustainability and responsible environmental stewardship in Australia has come a long way since the inception of the Banksia Environmental Awards, 22 years ago.

In the early years the awards were dominated by initiatives such as farmland regeneration and pollution clean up schemes.

Obviously these types of projects were, and are, critical to improving and maintaining the environment around us, but contemporary environmental activists are just as likely to be wearing a suit as a pair of gumboots and tie-dye.

Over the last few years there has been an increased understanding throughout business, government and community sectors that sustainability can mean smart business.

Australia’s future leaders in sustainability, the ones that will have a genuine and long lasting impact on society, will be people who continue to explore creative but practical solutions in improving or lessening societies impact on the environment.

Last year’s winner of our highest honour, the Origin Gold Banksia Award, was 108-year-old family owned Melbourne bakery Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses.

Building a new baking facility provided the trigger and impetus for the business to create and implement a series of sustainable solutions that also translated into smart business practice.

They developed an energy saving system by harnessing waste heat from their refrigeration system and the baking process, which slashed their power use by over 60%.

In addition they pioneered Victoria’s first hybrid-diesel delivery truck and participated in a carbon-offset tree-planting scheme.

Critically, these initiatives paid for themselves after just two years of operation and save over 5000 tons of CO2 annually.

Further illustrating how smart environmental initiatives are now being embraced by a broad cross section of the Australian landscape, the winner of the Large Business Sustainability Award in 2009 was GPT – one of Australia’s largest diversified listed property groups.

Again they’re an organisation that demonstrates leadership within their business sector, having been responsible for developments such as Workplace6 in Pyrmont, Sydney.

Workplace6 is the first commercial development in NSW to achieve a 6 star Green Star rating for design, featuring sustainable building technologies such as a blackwater treatment plant and absorption chiller air conditioning and efficient motion sensor lighting design.

Again, what makes companies like GPT different is their recognition and understanding that investment in sustainable solutions can also meet their commercial objectives.

Workplace6 is a flagship Sydney building that’s now home to Google and Accenture; two of Sydney’s most prestigious corporate tenants. There is no doubt in my mind that the environmental design and credentials of Workplace6 were a decisive factor for those businesses in signing the lease.

I have high hopes that 2010 will prove to be another great year for Australian innovation in sustainability, pushing the envelope of what can be achieved and developing unique creative solutions to improving our environment.

The 2010 Banksia Awards are now open to entries from business, government and community organisations that have excelled in implementing environmental or sustainable initiatives.

There are fifteen award categories for 2010, including Prime Minister’s Environmentalist of the Year, the Mercedes-Benz Australian Environmental Research Award and the GPT Group Community Award Grant, with entry packs available for download at www.banksiafdn.com

In my role I find there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future. There’s a wealth of talent out there, with people leading by example and making a positive impact.

It’s the mission of the Banksia Awards to support those individuals and organisations and ensure the vision, inspiration and energy flows out to the broader community.

 

Grazyna (Graz) van Egmond has been Executive Director of the Banksia Environmental Foundation since 1998. Before joining Banksia Graz managed the Telstra Small Business Awards, and also inaugurated the Telstra Business Women’s Awards. She’s also had various roles in the tourism industry, creating AIME for the Melbourne Visitors and Convention Bureau and handling public relations for the Australian Tourist Commission.

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