An Italian zero-waste and anti-incineration campaigner and a Colombian recycling campaigner have been named as two of the six winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize 2013.

Founded by Richard N. Goldman of Goldman Insurance Services (1920-2010) and his wife, Rhoda H. Goldman (1924-1996) in 1989, the Goldman Environmental Prize recognises ‘environmental heroes’ from each ‘inhabited continent’: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South and Central America and ‘Islands and Island Nations’ (including Australasia).

Winners are celebrated for their work in 'protecting and enhancing our environment' at a grassroots level, and receive a $150,000 cash prize – thought to be the largest award for grassroots environmental activism.

Rosanno Ercolini

Amongst this year’s winners is Rossano Ercolini (winner of the European category), an elementary school teacher turned zero-waste and anti-incineration campaigner. Ercolini began a public education campaign about the dangers of incinerators in his small Tuscan town that grew into a national zero waste movement.

The Zero Waste International Alliance promotes the message of recycling and waste reduction and has reportedly led to 117 municipalities across Italy closing incinerators and committing to zero-waste strategies.

Speaking to BBC News about his win, Ercolini said: "I am a bit shocked because I have been committed to what I do for a very long time.

"I was aware that there was some attention on my work but I did not know that there was international attention looking at what I was doing."

Amongst his achievements, Ercolini has also been credited with pushing the Italian city of Naples to adopt a zero-waste strategy and stop sending waste to a refuse processor in the Netherlands. The city has suffered from many waste management problems since the 1990s, with rumours of Mafia involvement.

Nohra Padilla

Waste was also the sector under the spotlight for the South and Central America category, with Colombian campaigner Nohra Padilla commended for her work with informal waste pickers. The Goldman Environmental Prize press release explained: ‘Unfazed by powerful political opponents and a pervasive culture of violence, Nohra Padilla organized Colombia's marginalized waste pickers to make recycling a legitimate part of waste management.’

Having herself been a waste picker as a child, Padilla later formed the Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá (ARB), a cooperative of waste pickers, when the municipality she was working with threatened to close a local landfill site.

Although the municipality closed the site, the organisation gave waste picker cooperatives money to help finance their activities so that they could continue their collection work in the streets. The association now gives its 18,000 members (from 24 cooperatives) a salary, social security, medical aid, pensions, and access to occupational health and safety services.

Other winners

The remaining four winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize 2013 are:

Africa:

JONATHAN DEAL, South Africa
Despite having no experience in grassroots organising, Deal led a successful campaign against fracking in South Africa to protect the Karoo, a ‘semi-desert region treasured for its agriculture, beauty and wildlife’.

Asia:

AZZAM ALWASH, Iraq

Azzam Alwash left the USA to return to Iraq to ‘lead local communities in restoring the once-lush marshes that were turned to dustbowls during Saddam Hussein's rule’.

Islands and Island Nations:

ALETA BAUN, Indonesia
Baun organised a peaceful occupation of marble mining sites to stop the destruction of ‘sacred forestland’ on Mutins Mountain, Timor.

North America:

KIMBERLY WASSERMAN, USA
Wasserman led local residents in a successful campaign to shut down ‘two of the country's oldest and dirtiest power plants’ – Chicago’s Fisk and Crawford plants – and is now ‘transforming Chicago's old industrial sites into parks and multi-use spaces’.

The winners will be awarded at a ceremony at the San Francisco Opera House later today (15 April). A smaller ceremony will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday (17 April).

Read more about the Goldman Environmental Prize 2013.