Transformational Leadership
2025 AWARD WINNER
When Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle hit the East Coast, they left behind mountains of wood slash and damaged communities. Slash for Cash was born in Tolaga Bay as a grassroots response to this crisis. The organisation transforms hazardous wood slash into biochar and clean fuel, removing tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere while creating jobs and regenerating soil.
The core innovation is a mobile carbonisation kiln, designed to New Zealand engineering standards and protected by intellectual property rights. The kiln converts slash into biochar and smokeless charcoal briquettes.
By the end of 2026, Slash for Cash predicts it will have removed 4,320 tonnes of cyclone-damaged slash and created 720 tonnes of biochar. It expects to be sequestering between 8,640 and 12,960 tonnes of CO₂ annually from 2026.
The social impact is equally significant. A fully funded one-year job readiness programme, in partnership with the Department of Internal Affairs, has trained 18 unemployed locals in digital literacy, health and safety, solar technologies, financial skills, entrepreneurship and biochar production.
Slash for Cash has also partnered with the Eastern Institute of Technology’s Adult Community Education programme to train 53 community members in the science, production and application of biochar.
The organisation operates from the historic Tolaga Bay Inn with support from iwi and hapū. The kaupapa is grounded in mātauranga Māori.
The judges said: "Born out of the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle, Slash for Cash has turned a regional crisis into an inspiring example of community-led innovation. By converting forestry waste into useful products like biochar and bricks, they’re creating jobs, protecting waterways and building local resilience.
"Their response blends ingenuity with manaakitanga. Slash for cash is not just community led but iwi-hapuu led, with the umbrella organisation (Tolaga Bay Inn Charitable Trust) run by Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, the mana whenua of the Tolaga Bay rohe. It’s a kaupapa Māori, place-based leadership model."