UNSW Founders announces inaugural Sir Rupert Myers Sustainability Award

Naomi Tarszisz, founder of Replated, is winner of the inaugural Sir Rupert Myers Sustainability Award.

The award has been established through the generosity of former UNSW Vice-Chancellor and Emeritus Professor Sir Rupert Myers, through the James N Kirby Foundation, and aims to support founders who are actively contributing to a more sustainable world.

RePlated is a start-up committed to reducing single-use plastic. It has created a reusable takeaway container that is simple, saves money, looks good and is good for the planet.

James Kirby, Director of James N Kirby Foundation said: “We are thrilled to support this award and congratulate Ms Tarszisz on her innovation to solve the real world problem of plastic pollution.”

The containers are designed and made locally in Sydney from recycled PET, sourced primarily from soft drink bottles. Ms Tarszisz is also working on what the raw plastic will become after its life as a reusable food container is over.

“Our lunchboxes answer the circular economy’s call to end plastic in landfill in two important ways,” Ms Tarszisz said. “Firstly, we make our reusable containers from recycled PET materials. We save plastic that was going to landfill and transform it into our lunchboxes. And, at the same time we reduce how many new materials need to be produced. We don’t package our containers in plastic.

“We’ve also made a promise to keep the loop going and take back the containers when you’re finished with them, to make sure that they don’t go into landfill or end up in the environment. We’ll turn them into a totally new product, or material, ready to be used again and again and again.”

Ms Tarszisz is an UNSW alumna, graduating with a degree in Sociology. She is a passionate and experienced business leader who has evolved her career significantly in the past four years to put purpose at the fore.

David Burt, Director of Entrepreneurship at UNSW said: “Ms Tarszisz and Replated were selected for the award as she is a great example of a founder making it happen, focusing their passion and experience to fix a problem that many people saw, but no-one wanted to tackle.

“We first came across Ms Tarszisz during COVID-19 when things were looking a little bleak. She was recommended by another of our female founders. Through our one-on-one coaching service, she has flourished and even gone on to mentor other female founders in our New Wave program. We are incredibly proud of Ms Tarszisz and the support that UNSW Founders has been able to provide.”

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