EnviroChallenge 2025
Previous Projects
We want to share our expertise so that more people have access to sustainable living advice. Here is a list of our older, previous projects.
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EnviroChallenge 2025
Back due to popular demand after a 6 year hiatus, run by Sustainability Options team members Amy Earles (leader of the 2019 Enviro Challenge winning team) and Jo Wills (a longtime organiser), the event gave students a chance to explore sustainability through five interactive activities:
Presenting a sustainability audit of their school
An upcycling task using a mystery box of waste materials
A photo challenge based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
A structured debate on a topical environmental issue
A sustainability quiz
The energy and creativity on the day were evident in projects like a rainwater recovery system built entirely from repurposed items. Photography entries showed impressive insight into global sustainability goals, and debates revealed a depth of critical thinking from all schools.
Students shared mahi from their kura ranging from native restoration to food sovereignty, energy and water efficiency, and local partnerships - demonstrating a strong understanding of real-world environmental challenges.
Healthy Whenua, Healthy Whare Hui
In 2025, Tauranga City Council funded Sustainability Options through their Resource Wise Community Fund to deliver a community wānanga focused on waste.
This kaupapa came to life through a partnership with Huria Trust, Tahia Te Marae, and Whānau Ora. It was a collective effort to bring whānau together for this kōrero about waste.
The wānanga was about sharing knowledge in a way that makes sense for everyday life. Together, we explored how the choices we make inside our whare can have a real impact on the health of our whānau and our taiao. From understanding the full lifecycle of household products to looking closely at what happens to our waste, both inside and outside the home, the kōrero was practical, open, and grounded in local reality.
We talked about ways to minimise waste through smarter purchasing and repurposing, and shared simple tools to help make sustainable living easier at home. Every attendee received a repurposing guide to take away - a small step toward lasting change.
Interest from the first hui was strong; a second session was delivered soon after, reaching even more whānau keen to make positive changes.
You can take a look at the presentation shared at the hui by clicking the button below.
Our Sustainability Advisor Amy Earles delivered 3 workshops at Ōropi School in 2024. She had the following reflection: Each Ōropi School workshop covered a different topic of sustainability and involved interactive and interesting lesson plans for year 5-8 students from the school environmental group. The community impacts of the work that Sustainability Options do was included in the workshops to demonstrate a real world example of the connectedness of the different pillars of sustainability.
Workshop activities reflected the multidisciplinary nature of environmental science and included building carbon footprints, making Matariki stars, learning about the lunar planting cycle and Mātauranga Māori, understanding organism distributions in different regions of the rocky shore, looking at a restaurant supply chain and a treasure hunt that incorporated the school gardens, chickens and composting areas. The students demonstrated an impressive interest and commitment to sustainability. That’s exciting for the future!
Powerco 2013 project
We delivered this project over 2013 and 2014. The project focused on working with 10 households in: Tauranga, Wellington & New Plymouth. The households were assessed for their energy performance and their energy use. Each household was provided a report on the potential for energy improvements and energy savings. Three of the households were targeted for the implementation of energy monitoring and then exposed to technology and incentives to shift their energy demand away from the peak morning and evening times, to off-peak times during the day and night. If we can spread the demand for energy across the 24 hours of a day, the infrastructure and generation requirements would be much more economical.
Trade Bank
This was a really cool idea we had. We had been visiting literally, thousands of homes with genuine repair and maintenance needs. In these homes were lots of little one's, in and out of hospital due to cold, damp and mouldy conditions. We have lots of tradies who help us with our mahi and many of them said we'd love to help, but.... the major barrier, being aware of the need and being able to attend to the need at the time. So, thanks to the Tindall Foundation, we developed an app, that was on the tradies phone, that they could register to, and when an opportunity came up to help a home, where we saw a need, they would be notified, they could claim it, and offer to help. It was an awesome idea. Sadly, COVID came, the market changed and then post COVID, it was hard to find a tradie that wasn't massively busy. It's still a vision we have.
Toi Te Ora
Our expertise is in visiting and engaging families and helping them with their sustainable living journey. Toi Te Ora were interested in the 'impact of home ownership' versus the 'impact of renting a home'. Sustainability Options was asked to seek permission of the households we visit and help, and commissioned to conduct formal in-depth qualitative interviews with 25 homes to research the feedback of both home owners and renters.
It started with one teacher, who asked us to visit her home and to provide a free 'sustainable living assessment', because that's what we do - free sustainable living assessments. This was back in 2013. She was so impressed at the knowledge she gained, she asked if we would consider visiting her workplace (Papamoa Kindergarten) to provide a free assessment for the staff and this site. We gladly agreed, because we are super passionate about passing on our knowledge and enthusiasm for a more sustainable world. What better place to start, than with the teachers of our littlest ones!
We duly visited the Kindergarten, provided a report, and then set about visiting the staff. All for free.
Next thing, we were asked by the Regional Office of the Kindergartens association (20 kindergartens) to partner with them on pursuing 'energy sustainability'. This partnership involved implementing a plan to pursue a 'big hairy audacious goal' (BHAG) of 'generating as much energy as the association used'. We mapped out and agreed a plan and over the following 15 years, we pursued that plan, conducting home assessments for staff, site assessments for the Kindergartens, energy monitoring and reporting each month, submitting and supporting funding applications, installing 10 solar systems on 10 kindergartens, holding community workshops and providing regular staff presentations as to how the pursuit of the BHAG was going. Success is not only in the solar PV systems installed (generation), but in lowering energy demand through energy efficiency with appliances, and with energy conservation through behaviors. During the journey, new regulations requiring more heating and more cooling came to pass.
We are still in partnership with the Kindergarten Association (now called Inspired Kindergartens), there are close to 30 sites involved, and we are getting very close to achieving the BHAG.
Consultancy
With strong corporate background and experience, we have expertise, skills and competency in the establishment of: policy, systems, structures, processes, management plans and staff engagement. We are especially passionate about helping organisations with staff engagement around sustainability.
We have worked with ISO having achieved and gained experience in ISO accreditation. Our staff have been trained and accredited in Natural Step (adding sustainable value) and GRI reporting (Global Reporting Initiative), as well as Urban Wellbeing, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Inner Development Goals (IDG).
If you need advice, information, help or support in the areas of: sustainability, community outcomes, staff engagement, social responsibility, we can help, we'd love to help.
Organisations we have worked with on a consultancy basis...
Holland Beckett lawyers (HOBEC) – sustainability audit
Metlifecare – energy audit and village energy plans
Trident High School – energy audit, 5 year energy plan, energy mentoring, sustainability audit
Bay Fair Shopping Center – sustainable solutions advice
Mackenzie Elvin – energy assessment and solutions delivery
Ohope Holiday resort & Apartments - energy audit
Whakatane Intermediate school - energy audit
Allendale primary school - sustainability audit
Western Bay of Plenty District Council - water use education for the roll out of water meters
Tauranga City Council - water use education
Trust Power - energy use assessments and education
Matamata Intermediate school - energy audit
Te Puni Kōkiri - Te Rereatukahia, Kaingaroa, Pirirakau, Waitahanui, Rotorua community housing assessments and improvements
Sustainable Taranaki - community workshops
Sustainable Bay of Plenty - in kind support
Kāingaora - tenancy education and support
Sunchaser, Motiti Island - renewable energy
ABS electrical - renewable energy
Karaka Pines retirement villages - renewable energy
Tauranga Girls College - sustainable education, student education, solar energy
Holistic Vets - renewable energy
TCC / Powerco - solar EV charging station
ANZ Bank - sustainable living customer workshops
BRANZ - housing condition research
EECA - home assessment impact research
CONTACT US
Phone:
07 544 1882
Mobile:
022 156 1027
022 497 2529
Email:
20degrees@so.org.nz
Address:
59 Seventh Avenue, Tauranga
F.R.O.G.
Forever Reliant On Good
We operate by being forever reliant on good - doing mahi for the good of others and for the good of our environment. Along the way, hoping we inspire others to incorporate the FROG into their organisation too.