Brisbane City Council has announced the winners of the 2025 WasteSMART Brisbane Awards, celebrating 12 outstanding individuals and organisations making a measurable impact on waste reduction and sustainability across the city.

Brisbane is Australia’s lifestyle capital and initiatives like the WasteSMART Awards are ensuring it remains the best place to live, work and relax by encouraging innovation in sustainability.

Now in its sixth year, the awards attracted more than 350 nominations from residents, schools, businesses and community groups. Finalists tackled a diverse range of waste streams, from repurposed wetsuits and salvaged building materials to composted coffee grounds and circular fashion initiatives.

A new category introduced in 2025, the Green Waste Award, recognised efforts in green waste recovery, recycling and education with Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary being crowned the winner.

Independent Brisbane butcher Meat at Billy’s received the Outstanding WasteSMART Award for its NoStyro Project, which replaces single-use Styrofoam with the ChillyBilly, a reusable, recyclable cooler made from recycled plastic. The closed-loop system has become a scalable model for sustainable food delivery.

The People’s Choice Award, voted by the public, went to My Green Stuff, a local eco-store making sustainability simple through reusable and recycled products, and acting as a community recycling hub for hard-to-recycle items. Through partnerships with organisations like Aussies Bread Tags for Wheelchairs and Lions Club, the store is turning everyday waste into new opportunities.

Winners were selected by a judging panel including representatives from Brisbane Sustainability Agency, Hannah Klose from Never Ever Pay Retail and Cleanaway.

Full List of 2025 WasteSMART Brisbane Award Winners

Winners:

• WasteSMART All-Star Award – Love Me Again Market
• WasteSMART Business Award sponsored by Cleanaway – Eat Street Northshore
• WasteSMART Circular Threads Award – Claudia Williams
• WasteSMART Community Award – Reverse Garbage
• WasteSMART Councillors’ Choice Award – Animal Emergency Service – Jindalee
• WasteSMART Early Learning Award – Avenues Early Learning Centre – Paddington
• WasteSMART Green Waste Award sponsored by BYD – Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
• WasteSMART Hospitality and Tourism Award – W Brisbane
• WasteSMART Local Legend Award – Pam Ruggles
• WasteSMART Outstanding Award – Meat at Billy’s
• WasteSMART People’s Choice Award – My Green Stuff
• WasteSMART Schools Award sponsored by Officeworks – Everton Park State School

Highly commended:

• WasteSMART All-Star Award – Boe Design
• WasteSMART Green Waste Award sponsored by BYD – Finn Biogas
• WasteSMART Local Legend Award – Jennifer Webber

The WasteSMART Brisbane Awards are delivered by Brisbane Sustainability Agency on behalf of Council, with support from BYD, Cleanaway and Officeworks.