CaliWoods was proud to sponsor this year's Zero Waste Awards celebrating individuals, groups, schools, marae, local businesses and social enterprises doing great things to help Auckland achieve its vision of zero waste by 2040. 

We sponsored the Community Collaboration - Hā ora, Hāpori category. This award recognises businesses or social enterprises who are 'walking the talk' by demonstrating a commitment in building community partnerships to reduce waste. 

The category winner this year is ME Family Services’ Resource Recovery Room.

Through ME Family Services’ Talking Trash initiative, a Resource Recovery network and room, where people can visit, has been set up across Māngere/Ōtāhu, and beyond. Working with hundreds of local businesses, organisations, and whānau, goods and materials that would otherwise end up in landfill are traded and exchanged for money, skills, networks, or anything else of value to the local community. Since mid 2019, Talking Rubbish has rehomed nearly 70,000 kilos of goods through their Resource Recovery Network to over 500 whānau, including furnishing households after a fire, providing work clothing for people entering the workforce, and clothing to those in need.

Highly Commended is Reusable Resources 

A social enterprise that rescues unwanted and discarded commercial offcuts, building waste, and residential renovation scraps, before they could get to landfill. These materials are repurposed, reprocessed, and then resupplied to  creatives such as artists, crafters, and DIY enthusiasts.

Congratulations to those recognised this year, read on for the full list of winners! 

Category: Rangatahi Leadership – Rangatahi, rangawhenua, rangatangata

This award celebrates individuals or groups of rangatahi (young people under 18 years) who are showing commitment and leadership in reducing waste in their community.

• Winner: Henderson Valley School’s Green Team and Waste Minimisation Focus Group
• Highly Commended: Kristin School’s The Roots and Shoots Waste Team

This category is proudly supported by Uru Whakaaro

Growing the Movement – Whakakanohi i te kaupapa para kore

This award celebrates local heroes (individuals or groups) raising awareness, inspiring change and spreading their tautoko of the zero waste kaupapa.

• Winner: Rachel Trinder is the Waste Minimisation and Site Clearance Construction and Innovation Manager at Kāinga Ora. 
• Highly Commended: Carolyn Robinson from Friends of the Farm has worked tirelessly since joining 18 months ago. 

This category is proudly supported by Be a Tidy Kiwi

Cultural Connection – Whīria te ahurea, whīria te kaitīakitanga

This award recognises those individuals or groups using culturally appropriate approaches to educate, inspire and care for their communities to reduce waste.

• Winner: S Double S Services is on a mission to get more families on bikes through their free bike refurbishing and donation scheme for local Ōtara kids and families. 
• Highly Commended: Tessie Chen and Lily Lin, teachers at Si Le Joy School, teaching Mandarin to Chinese children. 

This category is proudly supported by Trow Group

Innovation – Anga whakamua

This award recognises initiatives demonstrating the circular economy in action and ‘making it happen’ through demonstrable results.

• Winner: Citizen is actively raising awareness about and reducing food waste, by creating innovative processes and products using edible surplus food, or edible food production by-products destined for waste streams. 
• Highly Commended: Recycle a Device (RAD) is addressing both societal and environmental issues with one innovative solution. It is a NFP that diverts old and unwanted laptops from landfill and e-waste recycling, and teaches community members to diagnose and repair issues. 

This category is proudly supported by Sustainable Salons