Arrow Award Winners

Arrow Awards winners seal no year - fina

Congratulations to our Arrow Award winners!

The California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC) honors California-based companies for their innovative environmental efforts during the organization’s Annual Arrow Awards. Since 2008, CPSC has given out the prestigious environmental awards annually, holding the ceremony at the California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) conference on waste reduction. Every year, award recipients attend the ceremony and share their sustainability story with the audience.

“The Arrow Award winners are leaders in their respective communities in managing resources responsibly, protecting the earth, and creating jobs,” said Doug Kobold, Executive Director of CPSC. The Arrow Award winners contribute to the over 5.7M jobs in California providing services for the circular economy under the trade, transportation, utilities, manufacturing, and waste management sectors. Continue reading to learn more about the awardees and their industry- specific contributions to the circular economy.

CPSC is proud to have announced the 2023 Arrow Award winners at the State’s largest waste conference, California Resource Recovery Association’s 47th Annual Conference and Tradeshow, held in Burlingame, CA from August 13th - 16th, and celebrate the winners at a reception dinner, sponsored by SuperCircle (supercircle.world). See more information below on the 2023 Arrow Award Winners.

Refiberd is the winner of the 2023 Green Arrow Award for system and design innovations. The Green Arrow Award is given to an organization demonstrating an innovative systems approach that removes or reduces toxic or other problematic attributes present in products. Refiberd demonstrates these principles with a novel sorting technology that directs an otherwise landfill-bound textiles waste stream back into recycling processes to create a large-scale circular economy for textiles. Their device combined state-of-the-art hyperspectral imagining system with artificial intelligence for high accuracy for fiber composition and contamination, which can unlock new opportunities in textile reuse and recycling.

Goodwill of San Francisco Bay is the winner of the 2023 Bow & Arrow Award for coalition building and creative partnerships. Bow & Arrow Award recipients demonstrate synergistic relationships between producers, distributors, retailers, public agencies, and other stakeholders. The Goodwill of San Francisco Bay (SF Bay Goodwill) makes incredible efforts in diverting secondhand items from the landfill while providing job training and other career services to those in need. SF Bay Goodwill partnered with CPSC and CBU Productions on a pilot project funded by the San Francisco Environment Department related to textile repair. The project included engaging with the local textile network (including cleaners, upcycles, and universities) and the public through repair workshops, fashion shows, and selling of the repaired items on Goodwill’s e-commerce website. This innovative pilot highlighted the importance of partnerships in creating a circular economy for textiles.

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Byrd’s Filling Station is the winner of the 2023 Infinity Arrow Award for service and take-back. The Infinity Award is given to an organization to recognize efforts to initiate an outstanding Take Back program for one or more products as an additional convenience and service to their customers. Byrd’s Filling Station accomplishes these ideals by providing a convenient packaging-free alternative shopping experience for their community and collaborating with other like-minded local businesses. Their array of items available to their customers who want to follow a zero-waste lifestyle showcases their dedication to the practices of reuse and source reduction.

The Crayon Initiative is the recipient of the 2023 Golden Arrow Award for overall excellence in product stewardship. The Golden Arrow Award is given to an organization that exemplifies all the characteristics of the Green, Bow & Arrow, and Infinity Awards. The Crayon Initiative focuses on providing a circular economy for problematic products like paraffin wax and paper wrappings by collecting and repurposing unwanted crayons. The remanufactured crayons are designed to be easy to grip and not fall off hospital trays, and are donated to children in over 250 hospitals across the U.S. The Crayon Initiative showcases how the impacts of creating a circular economy can go beyond just diverting products from the landfill.

CPSC also wants to express gratitude to WM as the 2023 Sponsor of the year. WM, formerly known as Waste Management, is North America's leading provider of environmental solution with a focus on managing and reducing waste while recovering valuable resources and creating clean, renewable energy. WM works closely with CPSC on important issues, like textile waste diversion and statewide legislation for solid waste and recycling.

CPSC has recognized Ria Varghese from the City of San Jose as our 2023 Associate of the Year. Ria has been active on the California Product Stewardship Council’s Policy and Education Advisory Committee (PEAC) and continues to actively nurture and sustain the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) movement within the San Jose community.