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August 14, 2009
Ryde, Holroyd, Epping and Blacktown take out top sustainable cities awards
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Ryde, Holroyd, Epping and Blacktown have all received awards at the Sustainable Cities Awards Dinner hosted by the Deputy Premier, the Honorable Carmel Tebbutt MP, Minister for Climate Change and the
Environment, and sponsored by the Alcoa Foundation.
The Sustainable Cities program recognises outstanding environmental initiatives implemented by local government authorities, schools and community groups and businesses whilst raising public awareness of a range of environmental issues affecting metropolitan NSW.
“Ryde and Blacktown have shown strong initiative in waste management this year, with Ryde receiving Runner Up and Blacktown receiving Highly Commended in the Packaging Stewardship Forum Waste Management Award,” said Peter McLean, CEO of Keep Australia Beautiful NSW.
The City of Ryde was awarded for the launch of a public recycling rogram which provides shopping centres, parks and other public places with dual recycling and waste bins with double the capacity of the old bins and recycling signage.
Blacktown City Council received Highly Commended for their dynamic skills-based Bicycle Recycle program which sees unwanted bicycles donated and repaired into functioning bicycles by community volunteers for community use. The program provides community social interaction, promotes a healthy lifestyle, and provides skills based training to mobility and mentally disadvantaged individuals, the unemployed community members and other volunteers. At the start of the program, the aim was to repair and donate 20 bikes. However, due to the program’s success, 166 functioning bikes have been returned to the community.
The City of Ryde was the winner of the Heritage Branch Heritage Award. Petula Samios, Director of the Heritage Branch, Department of Planning applauded the project.
“The Heritage Branch, Department of Planning was very impressed with the restoration and conservation of Brush Farm House which cost the City of Ryde approximately $5.5 million. The winning project has transformed this elegant 19th century mansion into an arts, cultural and heritage centre will have significant long-term benefits for the community,” she said.
City of Ryde also received Highly Commended for the top award on the night, the Overall Sustainable Council Award which recognises an innovative approach by Council’s to tackling the full range of environmental issues within their Local Government Area.
Eden Gardens in Ryde was the winner of the Grundfos Water Conservation Award.
“It was particularly impressive to see Eden Gardens' commitment to recycling programs, for example water and pot recycling and the reach of its education programs to schools and the general public. The Eden Garden Nurseries are representative of Alcoa’s view that all businesses have the potential to recycle more and ‘closed loop’ recycling is the way of the future,” John Costley, Location Manager Alcoa Rolled Products at Yennora said.
Epping Boys High School received runner-up for the Landcom Metropolitan Schools Environment Award for the rehabilitation of school land for a wildlife corridor and for a variety of learnscapes such as an outdoor drama/teaching amphitheatre. The entire school population is committed to making the school a centre for environmental study in the local community, while environmental studies is integrated into the full range of the curriculum.
Holroyd City Council, in collaboration with St George Community Housing, received runner-up for ‘Creating Sustainable Housing Communities’, a project which engaged and educated two social housing communities in the Holroyd City Council area, to reduce their own consumption of energy and water, generation of waste and improve local biodiversity. Even in its early stages, the project has produced significant behavioural change in residents, and is expected to result in a reduction of energy and water consumption and waste to landfill.
The top award on the night of Overall Sustainable Council was presented to City of Canada Bay Council for their ambitious and strategic ‘FuturesPlan20’. The 20-year plan integrates environmental, economic and social sustainability targets into all aspects of Council’s management. This plan has already achieved significant water, energy and education targets for the Canada Bay region.
Related Links
Read more about the 2009 Sustainable Cities Award winners
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Find out more about Keep Australia Beautiful
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