The award recognises homegrown creativity and innovation that goes beyond improving existing approaches. It rewards organisations challenging current systems, unlocking new ways of operating and accelerating progress towards a regenerative future where nature and people thrive.
2026 Finalists - Disruptive Innovation Award
The following organisations and people are finalists in the 2026 Sustainable Business Awards. Alongside finalists in the other categories, they form this year's Next list – an annual list of who and what can make Aotearoa New Zealand a global beacon of sustainable business. Winners will be announced at the Awards night on 26 November 2026.
Aleph Beauty
Aleph is a makeup brand that uses natural, nourishing ingredients. Its in-house packaging take-back programme, ReAleph, has returned approximately 12,000 packaging units, saving 450 kg of material from landfill.
Autex Acoustics
Autex Acoustics recycles its textile offcuts to make accessories like clips and desk clamps. It does this using a bespoke pelletiser that turns PET (polyester) waste into a material that can be injection moulded. This process has diverted more than 310,000 kg of waste from landfill.
Bob Burnett Architecture
Bob Burnett Architecture designed Beyond Zero, New Zealand's first Net-Zero Superhome. Solar design, high-performance insulation and low-impact materials offset the carbon used to build it, while lowering emissions for years to come.
BraveTrace
BraveTrace operates the New Zealand Energy Certificate System, making renewable electricity claims traceable, verifiable and auditable. In 2024/25, 2.16 million energy certificates were redeemed, and the BraveTrace network has since grown to more than 400 energy users.
Cetogenix
Cetogenix's Ceto-Boost technology uses temperature, pressure and air – with no added chemicals – to transform organic waste into renewable gas and other products. These products are six times less carbon-intensive than their fossil-based equivalents.
CullBeck
CullBeck's technology, developed by Victoria University of Wellington's Robinson Institute, replaces coal with hydrogen to make emissions-free, high-grade iron. It cuts the ironmaking reaction time from more than 10 hours to just 2.5 minutes.
DataLoom
DataLoom is building software that connects climate risk with financial decision-making. Businesses can model regulatory, financial and physical risks together, turning climate-informed decisions around in hours instead of months.
Echo
Echo has grown into one of New Zealand's largest technology recycling and reuse services, recovering more than 4,000 tonnes of e-waste annually. It brings recycling directly to communities through free collection days, school programmes and corporate partnerships. During FY26, it delivered more than 70 free community collection days.
Farmgen Solar
Farmgen has standardised solar and battery installation for farms, cutting costs by 30-50% and installation time to around a fifth of conventional approaches. It has sold more than 30 commercial farm systems in two years.
FLOC wool acoustic panels - T&R Interior Systems
FLOC's acoustic wool panels turn a farming byproduct into a refined design element. The panels use 100% New Zealand strong wool instead of synthetic sound control materials. The product is fully biodegradable and compostable, breaking down naturally to return nutrients to the soil.
Fundsorter
Fundsorter uses AI to match organisations with funding and draft applications, cutting grant hunting from days to hours. It also offers free technical upskilling for charities. In under a year, it has helped more than 1,300 organisations access millions in funding.
Future Energy
Future Energy delivered a renewable energy system across three remote Fijian resorts, reducing reliance on diesel generators with 2,000 solar panels and battery storage. The project has already cut energy use by 35% and reduced emissions by more than 200 tonnes of CO2, with projected annual fuel savings of NZ$630,000.
Goodwrap Recycling
GoodWrap runs a product stewardship programme that recycles shrink wrap back into shrink wrap. It connects manufacturers, distributors, installers, logistics providers, recyclers and end users in a closed loop. In 12 months, it diverted 114 tonnes of soft plastic from landfill.
Hello Period
Hello Period makes reusable period products designed to replace hundreds or thousands of single-use items over their lifetime. Since launching in 2017, it has helped divert more than 750 million single-use period products from landfill globally.
House of March
House of March makes globally certified organic cotton bedding, sourced from Fairtrade suppliers using regenerative farming in India. It offers chemical-free, breathable luxury sheets with full supply chain transparency.
I Used to Be
I Used To Be upcycles used plastic pool toys into splash-proof bags. Off-cuts are sent to its partner MATTA and recycled into playground matting. Over seven years it has diverted 2.4 tonnes of plastic from landfill.
Kāinga Maha
Kāinga Maha, a charitable development company, partners with mission-aligned landowners across Aotearoa New Zealand to unlock land for community housing. Its Te Pākau Maru development in New Brighton provides housing for about 170 people across 63 Homestar 7-rated homes.
Kohu Hemp
Kohu Hemp's BioPanel is a prefabricated building panel made with proprietary GeoHemp technology. A home built with BioPanel stores approximately 5.2 tonnes of CO2 for 100-plus years and delivers 36 per cent greater energy efficiency.
Kowtow Clothing
Kowtow has redesigned its clothing to be 100% plastic-free, allowing end-of-life garments to safely return to natural systems. This lets old garments be converted into biochar, a stable form of carbon that improves soil health. It is the first fashion brand to demonstrate this pathway using Fairtrade organic cotton.
Leaft Foods
Leaft Foods is the first company to commercially isolate rubisco, the world's most abundant protein, from green leaves while retaining its nutritional and functional properties. Its New Zealand platform produces roughly four times more protein per hectare than high-performing dairy systems.
Materially Kiwi
Materially Kiwi turns New Zealand kiwifruit by-product into premium biomaterials for fashion, automotive and interiors, reducing reliance on fossil fuel-derived materials. More than 80 brands have expressed interest ahead of its commercial launch.
Mint Innovation
Mint Innovation recovers gold and copper from e-waste using biology and chemistry rather than high-temperature smelting. Its Australian facility has processed around 370 tonnes of circuit board material, recovering 12 kilograms of gold and 25,000 kilograms of copper.
Mohoao Seed
Mohoao Seed turns wild fennel, a weed, into a premium culinary ingredient. Harvested from whānau-owned land on Mōtītī Island, Bay of Plenty, it's a low-cost way for whānau to earn income from underused land.
Mushroom Material
Mushroom Material has developed a home-compostable alternative to polystyrene packaging. Grown from mycelium and agricultural waste, it can be processed using existing plastic moulding machinery, avoiding costly equipment changes for manufacturers.
Naylor Love
Naylor Love's Designing Out Waste pilot uses digital construction modelling to reduce waste before building even begins. By optimising material layouts and procurement, it prevents waste at the source rather than managing it later.
Papahoa Fibreworks
Papahoa Fibreworks grows plants for natural dyes and flax for linen in Canterbury. It runs New Zealand's only natural colour dyehouse, offering traceable, safe dyeing services to designers and the community.
Pete’s Natural Lemonade
Pete’s Natural Lemonade turns surplus New Zealand fruit into premium natural sodas. By pairing quality with a relatable story about supporting growers and making better use of fruit, it makes sustainable buying an easy choice.
PhaseFoam
PhaseFoam has developed an energy storage solution that replaces diesel-powered refrigeration for last-mile chilled food deliveries. It maintains 4°C control while cutting emissions by an estimated 94%.
Re:Circle
Re:Circle is a physical marketplace that makes second-hand selling simple and mainstream for everyday New Zealanders. More than 2,500 sellers have listed over 175,000 products, with more than 50,000 already finding new owners.
RePlay by Bonson
RePlay is a returnable container system built for supermarkets, replacing single-use plastic with durable, food-safe containers customers can borrow and return within four weeks. Trials at two New World stores have processed around 2,000 borrows, with a 79% return rate.
Sapro-Tech
Sapro-Tech has developed a plastic-free leather alternative made from renewable biopolymers and waste materials. The material works with existing manufacturing equipment and is designed to biodegrade at end of life.
SUPA
SUPA Energy builds, finances and operates solar and battery systems on schools, businesses, farms and clubs across New Zealand. It operates each system, guaranteeing hosts a fixed return while turning existing space into income-generating infrastructure. It now runs 22-plus live sites with 44 under construction.
The Flower Loop
The Flower Loop collects single-use plastic sleeves used to wrap flowers, recycling and remanufacturing them into new 100% recycled sleeves. It has diverted more than six tonnes of plastic and is expanding nationally with a postbag return system for florists.
Velskov
Velskov is a native food forest in Auckland where guests forage and dine on more than 45 native plant species grown within a four-hectare regenerating landscape.
WasteX
WasteX tracks how materials move through construction projects, replacing fragmented spreadsheets with structured data on waste and reuse. It has engaged more than 200 contractors across New Zealand, helping them measure outcomes and reduce landfill.
WoolTraceNZ
WoolTraceNZ gives wool products a digital identity through WoolPass, tracking their origin and value from farm to finished product. This connects growers, processors, manufacturers and brands through one verified source.
Wonky Box
Wonky Box has created a new national market for surplus and imperfect produce. It has rescued more than 5,000 tonnes of food that would otherwise have gone to waste, generating millions of dollars in additional revenue for growers.
Who it's for:
Businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs of any size.
What the judges look for:
originality and ambition
a clear departure from current practice
positive environmental and social impact
potential to scale, be replicated or reshape markets over time
evidence of systems-level thinking
contribution to regenerating natural systems