Pavilions Residences is a collaboration between Mirvac and the University of NSW SMaRT Centre. The result is an industry-first apartment that uses “green ceramics” – floor and wall tiles, kitchen-island fronts, light-fittings, furniture and artworks, all manufactured from waste glass and textiles that would otherwise end up in landfill.

The apartment is a blueprint for how future developments can join the circular economy in ways that are desirable, feasible and scalable, while drastically reducing building and construction waste, which currently contributes to 60% of Australia’s waste (around 41 million tonnes a year).

As a next step, Mirvac is now investigating opportunities to create additional micro-factories to locally manufacture green ceramics from waste materials on site at future projects.

Voronoi Runners are sneakers made using only 100% biodegradable materials, constructed without the use of any adhesives – proposing a solution to the large amounts of waste impacting the environment from the footwear industry.

The sneakers replace modern synthetic material with environmentally friendly alternatives and construction for a closed lifecycle, leaving no trace when the product’s usage stage ends. All materials are fully compostable and break down within one year.

The project was part of Rik Olthuis’ Honours research in Industrial Design at Massey University, with the aim to start conversations and raise questions around what is currently being done to better large-scale footwear production methods. Rik has continued working on Voronoi Runners and has been having meetings with industry professionals to explorer further options to scale the solution.

RePlated makes reusable takeaway food containers designed for heavy-duty use and made in Sydney from an innovative combination of recycled PET & glass.

Australians eat 4.5 million takeaway meals every single day, which means the average Australian eats take-away three times per week. Reusables are far superior than even the best single-use alternative (compostables) and there is a growing network of food businesses across the country accepting these BYO containers, supported by a SWAP & WASH pilot program.

Each container is expected to last at least a few years and at end of life they are remanufactured into 3D printed cutlery. RePlated also recently obtained BCorp certification and proudly donates 2% of revenue to Bush Heritage.

Good360 has created Australia’s largest online marketplace for businesses to donate surplus non-food goods with those in need via a network of 3000+ charities and schools.

Disposal of non-food goods (clothing, furniture, appliances, toys etc.) that didn’t sell is a hidden waste problem. Good360 offers a seamless solution for businesses to donate these brand new goods to the 3M+ Australians living in poverty, while preventing the goods being sent to landfill.

Good360 is currently working with over 300 retailers including BIG W, Harvey Norman, Colgate, Lego, JeansWest, Best & Less and Booktopia, and their technology enables them to match the right goods, to the right people at the right time.

In the 6 years they’ve been operating, they have matched nearly 20 million items valued at over $162m and diverted 2,810 tonnes of waste, which is the equivalent of 2000 cars. They are currently matching 13 items every minute and have a goal to match 1 item every second within 5 years.

Bettercup is an entirely self-funded, female-founded and led, Melbourne-based social enterprise that creates reusable cups, and supplies reuse systems and services to major events and venues in Australia and New Zealand.

Where standard, single-use cup waste generated by the events and venues industry mostly ends up in landfill and in our waterways, Bettercup’s product-as-a-service model provides events with an end-to-end solution that includes reusable cups and services which include washing and drying, onsite management and training, collection, storage and responsible recycling, post-event reuse reports, and reuse implementation consulting.

Their customers include some of Australia's best known events and brands such as Falls Festival, Dark Mofo, WOMADelaide, Jack Daniels, and Melbourne Fashion Week. So far they have eliminated more than 2.5 million tonnes of single-use cup waste from event waste streams and their vision is to become the expected standard at major events and venues across Australia & NZ.

The Very Good Bra was created to be the world's first zero-waste and circular economy bra on the planet, made in response to the increasing environmental damage resulting from the rise in fast fashion overt the last 20 years.

Bras are amongst the least sustainable garments. A traditional bra is made from 9 different materials in small pieces, all worn against the body which makes recycling difficult, resulting in 99.9% of bras ending up in landfill for 200 years, giving off methane gas.

The Very Good Bra’s solution is to make the bra botanically circular and fully compostable at end of life, while ensuring it provides the same performance as conventional. The business also operates a pre-sale only model, which minimises over-production and waste.

Launched via a Kickstarter campaign in May 2018, it went on to achieve 350% of its target goal. The business has grown 80% p.a in each of the 3 years since and last year won Best in Class for Fashion Impact at the Good Design Awards.

Ulu Hye has a range of all natural Mylk Base products which make it easy to make fresh mylk at home with completely no waste – simply blend the paste with water for 60 seconds.

With each glass jar making 10 whole litres of mylk, Ulu Hye has already helped prevent 500,000 milk long-life cartons ending up in landfill, and that number is only growing. Plus they’re also preventing food waste by putting an end to pouring half-empty cartons down the sink!

The jars are currently stocked in approx. 250 health & bulk food stores, as well as independent supermarkets around Australia, with plans to be available in mainstream supermarkets in the future.

Hello Cups are fully reusable and recyclable menstrual cups that provide an easier and more sustainable alternative to single-use products. Designed by the company's female founders and lifelong best friends Robyn McLean and Mary Bond, a Registered Nurse, the cups are made from medical-grade TPE (rather than silicone) which makes them fully recyclable.

A person with a period will use, on average, 16,000 tampons or pads in their lifetime, generating more than 100kg of period-related landfill waste. These often contain micro-plastics and chemicals, and can take more than 500 years to breakdown in landfill. The first tampon ever used is still somewhere on our planet.

One Hello Cup lasts five years and is the equivalent of 2,130 single-use products. Hello Cups have prevented more than 200 million single-use tampons and pads going into landfills around the world and they are on track to prevent 1 billion single-use period products going into landfills by 2025.

In their own words, The Hello Cup is an easy switch from single-use period products with “no strings attached”.

Great Wrap is a home-compostable stretch wrap, made from potato waste at their solar powered factory on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria.

Australia puts 150,000 tonnes of stretch wrap into landfill each year, and if food waste were a country it would be the 3rd biggest emitter of Greenhouse gases (behind the US and China). So while re-usable solutions are always the ultimate goal, Great Wrap is a huge step in the right direction and solves a very big problem right now.

Currently they sell cling wrap for home use and they are launching with a commercial sized wrap, as well as pallet wrap in the coming months. By July 2021 they will be Australia's largest manufacturer of stretch wrap and all of their products will be home compostable. By the end of 2021 they will be marine biodegradable too, by utilising waste from winemaking.

Founded in Melbourne in 2014, ettitude offers sustainably-made bedding, sleepwear, bathware and accessories made from the world’s first CleanBamboo™ fabric.

While many companies offer bamboo bedding using toxic rayon or viscose technology, ettitude spent years refining and testing its signature textile to create an evolved and improved, new-generation bamboo fabric that is 100% biodegradable and produced in a closed-loop system. In a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) comparing CleanBamboo to cotton, ettitude’s CleanBamboo sheet set uses 500x less water and creates 52% less carbon emissions.

ettitude is constantly searching for ways to improve its sustainability journey, ensuring it upholds its mission to make the world a more comfortable place for all living things. From removing virgin plastics across all its packaging and products, to its commitment to donate 1% of all sales each year to charities and organisations working to preserve the environment.

Woolpack is an insulated packaging technology for transporting temperature sensitive foods and pharmaceuticals. Wool is the best natural insulator on the planet and Woolpack uses sheep’s waste wool unsuitable for the textile industry which is ordinarily diverted to landfill.

Until now, there has been no alternative to Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) that has delivered equivalent thermal performance while being price competitive. Aside from being a disruptive and sustainable innovation, Woolpack offers inherent cost savings. It’s delivered flat packed and occupies 20% of the space of the equivalent volume of polystyrene boxes, which translates to less pallet movements, reduced transport costs, lower labour costs, and a lower carbon footprint.

Planet Protector Packaging has, to date, replaced 7.2 million EPS boxes in supply chains with our sustainable solutions across ANZ. This represents 3,500 tonnes of waste wool that has been diverted from landfill and found new life through Woolpack.

This recovered wool has provided close to $7 million as a new revenue stream and higher yield to sheep farmers. Finally, they have recycled 2.65 million Woolpack solutions through a closed loop recycling initiative implemented in partnership with My Food Bag, NZ’s largest meal kit.

Fungi Solutions are Australia's first Mycocycling centre – harnessing the adaptive capabilities of fungi to produce circular and clean materials. Their goal is to alleviate excess waste from Australia's current landfill and recycling facilities, working towards situating Australia as a leader in waste management.

The team is reimagining waste and changing perceptions of the usable life of those resources, while supporting local businesses to responsibly manage their waste. Fungi ‘waste’ can be broken down and rebuilt into new forms while capturing CO2, instead of emitting it. At the end of use, their Mycomaterials positively contribute to soil health via home composting.

Their current product line includes product boxes, wine coolers, acoustic panels, and mycopaper, and they’re partnering with Fringe Festival to implement sustainable exhibition displays, with the hope of transforming the creative industries in Australia into a waste-free environment.

The Swag is the world’s first 100% natural, patented produce bag, that keeps fruit and vegetables fresh and crisp for two weeks or longer in the fridge.

Australia sends over 7.2m tonnes of food to landfill each year. For every household, one in five grocery bags end up in the bin; the equivalent of $3,800 worth of groceries each year. Globally, almost half of all fruit and vegetables produced are wasted.

The Swag is made from 100% compostable materials, made up of three unique layers, that when dampened with water, provides hydration and breathability for fruit and vegetables – reducing plastic pollution and saving households thousands of dollars each year in food waste.