Indian-origin Prof. Veena Sahajwalla’s UNSW SMaRT Centre has won a 2026 Australian Good Design Award Gold accolade for technology that transforms discarded glass and textiles into engineered ceramic tiles.
The award recognises the centre’s Green Ceramics MICROfactorie technology, developed in collaboration with commercial partner Liverpool City Council, which operates a facility producing ceramic tiles from waste materials.
Prof. Sahajwalla said the award recognised both the centre’s ongoing research and development and its collaboration with Liverpool City Council, which commissioned the technology.
“Recovering materials from waste has a big role to play as we move towards a sustainable future and a circular economy, reducing our carbon footprint.”
She said turning waste into valuable materials for remanufacturing could help address finite resource supplies and strengthen Australia’s sovereign manufacturing capability.
“Waste itself can, and must, be seen as a resource with economic and social benefits as we strive to be more sustainable.”
The project, titled SMaRT Green Ceramics — Engineered Surfaces, won Gold in the Product Design – Hardware and Building category.
The technology converts hard-to-recycle glass and textile waste into value-added architectural surfaces, offering an alternative to conventional ceramic manufacturing.
The awards jury praised the project for combining material innovation, product performance and environmental benefits.
It highlighted the tiles’ wet flexural strength of 26.2 megapascals, perfect stain resistance and production at 130 degrees Celsius in under six minutes — a process requiring a fraction of the energy used in conventional ceramic production.
The jury also noted that the technology diverts more than 500 tonnes of glass and 18 tonnes of textile waste from landfill annually, while delivering an estimated 46 per cent reduction in embodied carbon compared with conventional tiles.
It described the products as versatile, with aesthetic appeal and potential applications across a range of settings.
The Green Ceramics technology forms part of the SMaRT Centre’s broader MICROfactorie programme, which develops ways to transform difficult-to-recycle waste into products and manufacturing feedstock.
The Australian Good Design Awards recognise projects across 13 design disciplines and more than 30 categories. Entries are assessed by an independent jury of Australian and international experts against criteria covering good design, innovation and impact.
Established in 1958, the awards are among Australia’s longest-running design recognition programmes.
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