Awards honour sustainable innovation

One day, if the vision of Sustainable Hamilton Burlington is fully realized, perhaps there will no longer be awards presented to local businesses that stand apart for “sustainable innovation” — growth that has social, environmental and economic value.

As the nonprofit enterprise declares in its annual report, its biggest goal is making sustainability “just the way business is done here.”

But for now, several businesses are shining brightly for taking the lead in that arena.

The fifth annual Evening of Recognition was held by Sustainable Hamilton Burlington at the Royal Botanical Gardens Tuesday night, to pay tribute to these efforts. The winners are: Best Sustainability Report: A tie, between REfficient and Walker Emulsions.

Environmental Innovation: Also a tie, between EcoSynthetix for its DuraBind wood binder, and to TekPak Solutions for its Omnidegradable plastic cups.

Social Innovation: Seedworks Urban Offices, for its co-work space and community initiatives.

Passion into Practice: McCallum Sather Architects, for incorporating sustainability in its design for clients and its own operations.

Sandi Stride, founder and CEO of Sustainable Hamilton Burlington, said they are “very proud of our members who are truly bringing the concept of creating shared value to life.”

She added that, in the age of Donald Trump and his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, it was encouraging to see local leaders “stepping forward to reinforce their commitment to climate action.”

The nonprofit recently joined Ontario’s Sustainability CoLab network and received a Grow Grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to expand, and also funding from Hamilton’s City Enrichment Fund.

For information about the social enterprise, go to sustainablehamiltonburlington.ca.