We've won the top honour at the 2026 Clean + Conscious Awards!

Earlier this year, our reusable Christmas crackers won a Gold Medal at the 2026 Clean + Conscious Awards. That was a proud moment for a cotton cracker. Now the whole business has taken the highest award of all. The gold medal was for what we make. This one is a stamp of approval on who we are.

We're thrilled to share that Waste Free Celebrations has won the Sustainability + Social Impact Leadership Award at the 2026 Clean + Conscious Sustainability + Social Impact Awards. It's the highest honour in the awards, now in their seventh year.

What the judges said

"An extraordinary example of leadership, creating meaningful employment and financial independence for women in Afghanistan while replacing disposable Christmas crackers with beautiful reusable alternatives designed to last for decades. A remarkable business with sustainability and social impact woven into the very foundations of its business model."

We've read that a few times now. It still makes us want to go and hug a sewing machine.

Where it all began

Waste Free Celebrations started as a craft stand at a small-town market here in New Zealand. In 2020, things grew quickly, and we hired 12 women in two weeks. Our sewing was done by Afghan refugee women in Auckland.

Afghanistan has been close to my (Emma's) heart for a long time. I worked as an aid worker in Kabul from 2004 to 2006, and returned for two more assignments in 2007. So in 2024, when we moved our production to Kabul, it felt like coming full circle.

The women behind every stitch

Today we run our own factory in Kabul. It gives women meaningful work and financial independence, in circumstances that are extraordinarily challenging.

Production is led by Rahila Sayed, an Afghan refugee who went back to Kabul to set up the factory. Every cracker, gift bag and furoshiki wrap we sell has passed through the hands of Rahila and her team. This award belongs to them as much as anyone.

In very good company

We're proud to stand alongside this year's other winners. They include Māori-led Aotea from Great Barrier Island, jointly awarded the Indigenous Leadership Award with Bush Medijina from Groote Eylandt. Other winners are creating fair work in Nepal, Cambodia and Indonesia, tackling period poverty, and rethinking how products are made and thrown away.

Discover all the 2026 winners and their stories.

Thank you

To every customer who has chosen a reusable cracker, a fabric gift bag or a furoshiki wrap: you made this possible. Each one keeps waste out of landfill and keeps women in Kabul in work.

So pull one of our crackers this Christmas. The joke will still be terrible and the crown will still be wonky. But unlike the four-second kind, it'll all be back on the table next year, and the year after that.