Papyrus Australia was awarded the ‘Innovation of the Year 2010’ award at the recent BPN Sustainability Awards. The BPN Awards recognise designers, builders and manufacturers who set new benchmarks in sustainability. Dick Clarke, director of Envirotecture and also Sustainability Director for Building Designers Australia, is one of three BPN Awards judges. At the Awards presentation ceremony, he said “The Papyrus technology brings a profound change to the industry: I have been a judge of the BPN Sustainability Awards for four years and the Papyrus technology is the best innovation I have seen yet. Not only does the Papyrus technology turn a waste product into a high-value material with so many applications, but it does it in a way that provides the economic opportunities for low income banana growers to be on equal footing with other players in the market. Papyrus opens the doors to equitable global development.” Papyrus was also a finalist in the Banksia Environmental Awards’ Clean Technology and People’s Choice awards categories announced on 15 October.

Papyrus veneers and fibres are also low in embodied energy, meaning their carbon storage potential is also very high. We are looking forward to specifying commercialised Papyrus products in our projects here at Envirotecture.