De Bortoli Wines has been awarded NSW’s first Sustainability Advantage Platinum Project.

At a ceremony held in Sydney last week, NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton presented the award to the winery in recognition of their efforts in environmental leadership and innovation through ‘The De Bortoli Method’.

The system recovers potassium from the winery’s wastewater to produce a sodium-free cleaning solution. This decreases the build up of potassium in the soil and reduces the usage of caustic chemicals. The method is upheld as an example to other businesses using imported caustics of alternative approaches that can deliver significant savings and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Alice Cahill, manager strategic delivery for the Sustainable Programs Branch, says the Office of Environment and Heritage are proud to partner with De Bortoli Wines in this initiative.

“De Bortoli Wines is rightly acknowledged as a world leader for its demonstrated commitment to sustainable production and consumption,” she says. “We applaud De Bortoli Wines’ pursuit of zero waste and zero harm and their willingness to share this knowledge with the NSW business community.”

The method took five years of research and development to implement and is one of the many environmentally conscious initiatives De Bortoli Wines have instigated as they endeavour to become a ‘Zero Waste Winery’.