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Icon Water wins 2020 Banksia award

Icon Water, an Australian water and sewerage service, won the overall Gold Award in The Banksia Foundations Large Business Award last week, for their ‘No Opportunity Wasted’ resource recovery program.

The program looks at addressing wastewater and management systems while challenging the traditional linear process in which waste is created as a by-product and sent to landfill.

The No Opportunity Wasted program was done in collaboration with several local ACT businesses and focuses on eight initiatives. These include issues such as waste management and monitoring systems, recycling programs for agri-ash and treatment of spoil and water solids.

The program managed to divert 11 kilotonnes of agri-ash from landfill between 2019 to 2020, which was put towards local farmers who benefitted from using the agri-ash as a soil enhancer. The program also saw benefits such as the ability to produce steam as a resource from glass recycling and the creation and trialling of biochar: a carbon-based product with the potential for use in potting mix.

“The Banksia Awards have offered us the opportunity to show that our sustainability goals extend beyond water,” said Ben Bryant, Icon Water manager of environment and sustainability. “We’re committed to responsible consumption and production and we’re really proud of our No Opportunity Wasted Program, which was at the heart of our submission for the Banksia Award.”

This program aligns with Icon Waters Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy ongoing from 2017 to 2013 that looks at upcycling waste into resources while reducing landfill. The program is expected to lead to a Canberra “eco-hub” where product creation is co-dependent.

“This program has been the driving force for Icon Water to make several critical changes to how we approach sustainability within the organisation for community, environmental and economic benefits in our region, “said Bryant. “Icon Water’s vision is to create a utility that transforms waste into resources. We’re well on the way to making this a reality.”

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