Grounded Goods State Finalist in Telstra Best of Business Awards – Sustainability Leadership

What a way to start the week. Grounded Goods has been named a State Finalist in the 2025 Telstra Best of Business Awards in the Promoting Sustainability category. As a female-led, Australian-made, B Corp-certified business, this recognition is a special moment for our team and our community.

The Promoting Sustainability category recognises small and medium businesses that are reducing environmental impact and driving sustainable change for a healthier planet. It celebrates practical action that cuts waste, redesigns systems and accelerates the shift to circular solutions. 

Why this matters right now

Australia generated an estimated 75.6 million tonnes of waste in 2022–23. Our national resource recovery rate reached 66 percent, yet plastics remain the outlier with an estimated recovery rate of just 12 percent. That gap is exactly why reuse and closed-loop systems are so critical.

Across the country, states are moving to phase out problem plastics and shift behaviour:

• NSW has banned a range of single-use plastic items and ended the transition period for certain packaged food and drink items on 1 January 2025.

• Victoria’s ban covers problematic single-use plastics across government and business settings. 

• Queensland has enacted staged bans and a five-year roadmap to tackle additional items. 

• South Australia continues to lead nationally with further single-use reductions, including targeted foodservice items. 

Beyond bans, the global evidence is clear: reuse is one of the three biggest levers to cut plastic pollution. UNEP’s analysis shows reusable cups typically outperform single-use when washing is efficient and the product is used enough times. Break-even points vary by material and context, from roughly 20 to 32 uses for common reusable plastic cups compared with paper cups, through to about 130 to 140 uses for stainless steel cups.

What the Telstra recognition represents

The Telstra Best of Business Awards celebrate Australian SMEs shaping our economic, social and cultural prosperity across seven categories, including Promoting Sustainability. State Winners will be announced on 3 October 2025, with National Winners revealed at the Gala on 20 November 2025. As a State Finalist, Grounded Goods joins an alumni community that shares knowledge to help businesses scale their impact.

No matter what happens next, we are proud to represent reuse, circular design and the practical, Australian-made solutions that help organisations move beyond single use.

Our approach: Australian-made and designed for closed-loop

From day one, our vision has been simple: end single-use packaging by making reuse easy, beautiful and system-ready. Here is how we do it:

• Closed-loop by design
  We design cups and containers that slot into real-world operations, collection and wash-back flows, and end-of-life recovery. The aim is to keep valuable materials in circulation at their highest value for as long as possible.

• Australian-made manufacturing
  Local production gives us tighter quality control, shorter supply chains and lower transport emissions per unit shipped domestically.

• B Corp-level accountability
  Certification requires robust standards for governance, workers, community, customers and the environment. B Lab has also launched updated standards in 2025 to keep lifting the bar on credible impact.

Reuse works best when the system is right

Life-cycle research is consistent on two points:

1. Reuse outperforms single-use when you set up efficient washing and hit the right number of reuses.

2. The biggest variables are user behaviour and washing energy, which is why program design matters as much as product design.

That is why our projects start with operations and we create reuse program that is easy to run is a reuse program that lasts.

What’s next for Grounded Goods

• Show more of the behind-the-scenes
  Over the coming weeks we will share practical insights on implementing reuse at scale, from procurement checklists to wash-back playbooks.

• Partner across the value chain
  We are keen to further collaborate with venue groups, caterers, universities and corporates who want to move from pilots to full programs.

• Keep raising the bar
  As standards evolve and states harmonise plastic rules, we will keep pushing for solutions that are credible, transparent and measurable.

If you are ready to replace single-use with a closed-loop solution, let’s talk.

About the Awards

• Category focus: businesses driving sustainable change that reduces environmental impact.

• Program timing: State Winners 3 Oct 2025. National Gala 20 Nov 2025. 

• Alumni: State Finalists join Telstra’s alumni community.