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2023 Product Steward Excellence Award Winners

NSW’s Return and Earn Container Deposit Scheme, Dulux Trade’s paint pail return-recycle scheme, Fairview Ecoloop’s solution for aluminium cladding, Remondis Australia’s Stewardship Tracking App and Biopak’s Compost Connect were all honoured at the Product Stewardship Excellence Awards held in Sydney in 2022.

There were six categories judged by a panel of national and international experts across industry, government, research, and stewardship organisations chaired by Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence director Dr Damien Giurco.

The breadth of entrants and depth of innovation in this year’s Product Stewardship Excellence Awards show just how much progress is being made in working to mainstream product stewardship with associated benefits for our society, Australia’s economy, and the environment.

Best Stewardship Outcomes – Collective Scheme
Winner: Return and Earn NSW Container Deposit Scheme

Judges said: Return and Earn have demonstrated strong stewardship outcomes for the community and environment. Judges noted a commendable use of data around engagement and participation including via an Impact Calculator to help users understand the positive impact of their involvement in the scheme. Social and economic outcomes were well-evidenced, and consultation is currently underway to expand the scheme to include glass wine and spirit bottles.

Best Stewardship Outcomes – Individual Business or Brand (Large companies 200+ employees)
Winner: Dulux Trade

Judges said: Dulux have developed an initiative to encourage the return of used 15L paint pails then recycling them into durable new paint pots and roller trays to sell back through their trade and retail channels. Judges thought the circular nature of Dulux’s application and the linking of the program to their core business was unique. They were also impressed with Dulux’s performance on social outcomes, creating jobs and manufacturing new products in Australia.

Best Stewardship Outcomes – Individual Business or Brand (SMEs under 199 employees)
Winner: Fairview

Judges said: Fairview’s Ecoloop is a recycling solution for aluminium composite panel cladding aimed at diverting 100% of waste from landfill as part of a national replacement of non- compliant cladding. Judges were inspired by the complete circular nature of their program, and its successes in ensuring that each component of the separated materials were further utilised, namely aluminium, polyethylene, ferrous metals, mixed residuals. They also noted that the program has considerable potential to be scaled.

Excellence in Digitalisation for Product Stewardship
Winner: REMONDIS Australia

Judges were impressed by the level of innovation demonstrated across this category, making this a very difficult category to decide upon. They determined Remondis’ Product Stewardship Tracking App was worthy of the award, as their digital information had considerable capacity to reduce contamination. Particularly, Remondis’ bespoke digital application enables them to track every collection from transfer stations in Queensland and Victoria and supports the effectiveness of their collection contract with Paintback.

Excellence in Emissions Reduction through Product Stewardship
Winner: BioPak

Judges said: BioPak’s product stewardship initiative, Compost Connect, seeks to close the loop on compostable packaging and divert food waste from landfill, connecting businesses with composters to turn these resources into composted soil. Judges were impressed with BioPak’s approach to the design of its compostable packaging and to reducing methane emissions relative to food waste going to landfill, whilst cycling nutrients via compost. Judges noted that the application emphasised the need for a national, consistent approach to compostable packaging and food recovery.

Product Stewardship Champion of the Year
Winner: Rebecca Brown

The Product Stewardship Champion of the Year Award is bestowed by the directors of the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence, to recognise an Australian individual or team who has had a singular impact in driving stewardship forward in Australia. Rebecca Brown, Manager, Waste and Environment, Western Australian Local Government Association was named the Product Stewardship Champion of the Year Award for 2022.

Rebecca has devoted much of her professional life to waste reduction and environmental management in local government. She has been a forthright and constructive advocate always focused on outcomes and impact, and her efforts and influence have extended nationally.

In her role as Manager of Waste and Environment with the Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA), she has proactively elevated local government as an essential stakeholder, partner and provider in several product stewardship and EPR schemes.

2022 Product Steward Excellence Award Winners

Best Stewardship Outcomes – Collective Scheme
Winner: Return and Earn NSW Container Deposit Scheme

Best Stewardship Outcomes – Individual Business or Brand (Large companies 200+ employees)
Winner: Dulux Trade

Best Stewardship Outcomes – Individual Business or Brand (SMEs under 199 employees)
Winner: Fairview

Excellence in Digitalisation for Product Stewardship
Winner: REMONDIS Australia

Excellence in Emissions Reduction through Product Stewardship
Winner: BioPak

Product Stewardship Champion of the Year
Winner: Rebecca Brown

2021 Product Steward Excellence Award Winners

This year was the launch of the awards which consisted of four award categories that schemes, businesses, and NGOs could enter, and one category, Product Stewardship Champion of the Year.

The four categories were:

Best Stewardship Outcomes: Scheme or Industry Collective
Best Stewardship Outcomes: Single Business or Brand
Innovation in Industry-led Product Stewardship Scheme Design.
Digitilisation in Product Stewardship.

Best Stewardship Outcomes: Single Business or Brand.
Winner: Bata Shoes

Bata Shoe Company of Australia won the Award for Best Stewardship Outcomes (Single Business or Brand) at the inaugural Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence Awards. Bata’s PVC Recycle program was set up to reduce the amount of PVC gumboots ending up in landfill. National Sales Manager Leigh Ramsden said used boots were re-processed into raw materials to create new Bata PVC gumboots consisting of 50% recycled content.

Best Stewardship Outcomes: Scheme or Industry Collective
Winner: MobileMuster

MobileMuster won the award for Best Stewardship Outcomes (Scheme or Industry Collective) at the inaugural Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence Awards in 2021.

The Judges said MobileMuster won because they are a long-standing government accredited product stewardship scheme that has demonstrated significant commitment to consumer education and business engagement in keeping mobile phones out of landfill.

Successful outcomes have been achieved with respect to recycling, thanks to strong support from members of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA). The award win acknowledges that industry can work together to achieve great stewardship outcomes. The success of this scheme has taken a lot of hard work, but when industry members are involved in designing the program, it gives them a great sense of ownership.

Innovation in Industry-led Product Stewardship Scheme Design
Winner: Big Bag Recovery

Big Bag Recovery were awarded a commendation for the Innovation in Industry-Led Product Stewardship Scheme Design category at the inaugural Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence Awards in 2021.

In awarding this commendation, the Award judges recognised the potential for this scheme to further develop and expand to address the significant challenge of plastics in agriculture, mining construction and other regional activities. This recently government accredited scheme works to ensure that bags for fertiliser, mulch, salt, sugar, and explosives over 15kg or 15L are collected and recycled.

Big Bag Recovery began as a stewardship program for recovery of farm waste, which has expanded to include woven polypropylene and low-density polyethylene sacks and bulk bags from scheme members across multiple industries.

Excellence in Digitalisation for Product Stewardship
Winner: ReCollect

ReCollect won the award for Digitalisation in Product Stewardship at the inaugural Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence Awards in 2021.

ReCollect provides consumers with a pick-up service for the recycling of bottles, cans, mobile phones, electronics, and clothes which can be booked via an app from the ‘comfort of the couch.’ This award recognised the innovative thinking and practical application of digital tools to facilitate product stewardship via pick-up collection of beverage containers with the option to easily donate the proceeds to charity.

Pleasingly a growing range of other waste streams can also be managed via the platform, including mobile phones in the ACT with the potential to expand to other waste streams. The judges also noted their appreciation for a tool that makes product stewardship more accessible to the community.

Product Stewardship Champion of the Year
Winner: Alex Young

Alex Young of the NSW EPA won the Product Stewardship Champion of the Year Award for 2021 at the inaugural Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence Awards.

The award is designed to recognise those individuals or teams who have had a singular impact in driving stewardship forward in Australia. Alex Young is a champion of product stewardship in Australia.

Mr Young came to Australia in 2002 with a strong foundation in product stewardship theory and practice. He studied Masters (Environmental Management) in Sweden, where he was taught by Thomas Lindquist, who first introduced the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in the 1990s.

He’d also been involved in research on the impact of EU Environmental Product Policy on eco-design, waste minimisation and environmental supply chain management. From setting up the first product stewardship computer take-back trial in NSW (in partnership with industry), to leading the design, development, implementation, and ongoing management of the NSW container deposit scheme (Return and Earn), Alex has played a pivotal role in shaping and implementing product stewardship policy at both a state and national level.

He has contributed significantly to establishing and monitoring product stewardship schemes including the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme and leading the delivery of the NSW government’s EPR Priority Statement, identifying priority wastes for product stewardship action. Alex has proven himself to be a systems thinker and pragmatist driven by achieving outcomes and impact across sectors and communities. Mr Young says he values good public policy which is evidence based and data driven.

Product Stewardship Champion of the Year
Winner: Janet Leslie

Janet Leslie of Canon Oceania won the Product Stewardship Champion of the Year Award for 2021 at the inaugural Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence Awards.

The award is designed to recognise those individuals or teams who have had a singular impact in driving stewardship forward in Australia.

Janet Leslie is a most deserving champion of product stewardship in Australia. She is a strong advocate for national, multi-stakeholder stewardship schemes and her expertise has been key to delivering positive sustainability outcomes across several product categories.

In addition to her role as Sustainability Manager with Canon Oceania, she has made a significant contribution to the design and implementation of the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS), Cartridges 4 Planet Ark, and the recently launched battery stewardship scheme.

She has also played a pivotal role in other industry-wide projects such as the establishment of the Australia New Zealand Recycling Platform (ANZRP). The award also recognises Canon’s role in promoting, supporting, and investing in national recycling schemes.

Ms Leslie’s early interest in stewardship came from studying sustainability at ANU in the 1970’s. She was particularly influenced by books such as The Limits to Growth published by the Club of Rome in 1972, and Ernst Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful, with their messages that we need to protect our planet’s resources and temper our materialist tendencies.

She later went on to work at Standards Australia where she was involved in international standards development for environmental management and implementing the ISO 14001 series of standards in Australia and the region.

2021 Award Winners

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2021 AWARD WINNERS

2021 Sponsors

Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

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The Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence is an independent, not for profit charity, that seeks to reduce waste generation and create positive environmental and social outcomes through sustainable design, resource conservation, reuse, repair, and recycling. The Centre helps businesses, industries, and product stewardship organisations to adopt a strong lifecycle approach to deliver their ESG and circular economy objectives. We also provide independent advice on product stewardship priorities to the Australian government.

Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence | c/- Institute for Sustainable Futures | University of Technology | PO Box 123 | Broadway NSW 2007