Victorian council City of Greater Bendigo and start-up Fungi Solutions were recently announced as winners in the circular economy category of the 2022 Premier’s Sustainability Awards, held on 20th September. 

Delivered by Sustainability Victoria, Banksia Foundation and Keep Australia Beautiful- Victoria, the awards are the state’s highly prestigious program that celebrate and reward organisations, industry leaders, businesses, projects and communities that innovate for a sustainable future.

The City of Greater Bendigo is embracing circularity by looking at upstream and downstream solutions to close their material loops and reduce embodied carbon across the city. They have introduced a circular procurement policy to normalise the use of reused/repurposed/recycled content within their design and projects.

As for Fungi Solutions, by developing custom-made bioregenerative packaging solutions using organic waste such as mushrooms, they have diverted 888 kg of local organic waste and captured 2,250 kg of carbon through the process. 

The awards featured six categories across the sustainability realm within the City of Greater Bendigo and Fungi Solutions were award recipients under the Circular Economy Innovation category as an Industry Leader and Community Champion respectively.

Both recipients are good examples of the commitment and innovation required to transition towards a circular economy and reduce the negative impacts on the environment.

Sustainability Victoria’s CEO Matt Genever says that it is very positive and uplifting to see how this awards program has gone from strength-to-strength over the past 20 years and showcases the amount of work being done in sustainability.

To learn more about their award-winning circular economy models and innovation, check out the City of Greater Bendigo and Fungi Solutions case studies featured on the ACE Hub.