Moonee Valley City Council and Wingate Avenue Community Centre have won the Premier’s top sustainability award for 2013; for their project that saw a community housing estate establish recycling after previous failed attempts.
The Ascot Vale Housing Estate Household Recycling project introduced recycling and established a successful and innovative model using targeted and broad-ranging community engagement of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) and the lower Socio-Economic Status (SES) groups.
For their contribution public housing residents now have readily available recycling facilities, which in its first six months the project drew 52 tonnes of recyclables; and three of the 11 residents who worked on the project secured jobs as a result of their experience.
The Premier’s Sustainability Awards are Victoria’s most highly recognised annual sustainability awards across business, government, education and the community.
Sustainability Victoria CEO, Stan Krpan, congratulated the Moonee Valley City Council and Wingate Avenue Community Centre project team for their ground-breaking work which delivered recycling to the estate’s residents, of whom 55 per cent were born overseas.
“
I congratulate both Moonee Valley City Council and all other winners and finalists for their innovation and foresight in integrating sustainability into their organisations and communities,” Victoria’s minister for Environment and Climate Change Ryan Smith said.
For the first time in the awards’ history, the Premier also chose Victoria Carpets as the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Regional Recognition Award; for their efforts, which saw a 6000-gigajoule reduction in gas usage and a 550,000kWh reduction in energy at the Bendigo Woollen Mill.
“The winners are very deserving recipients and showcase the exemplary sustainability work lived out in their daily word by thousands of Victorians all over the state,” Mr Smith added.
Now in their eleventh year, the Premier’s Sustainability Awards celebrate efficient use of water, resources and energy, better waste management and recycling practices, the enhancement of the environment and effective, practical community action.
The full list of winners of the Premier’s Sustainability Awards 2013 are:
• The Premier’s Recognition Award – Moonee Valley City Council and Wingate Avenue Community Centre, taking recycling to public housing residents
• The Premier’s Regional Recognition Award – Victoria Carpets, for their work in energy and emissions reduction in their Bendigo plant
• Innovative Products or Services Award – ModWood Technologies for development of Flame Shield®, a wood-plastic composite for building in bushfire areas
• Infrastructure and Buildings Award – RMIT University for their Swanston Academic Building: a progressive tertiary learning environment
• Environmental Protection Award – Mallee Catchment Management Authority’s project:
Restoring the balance in the drought-riven Hattah Lakes
• Education Award – Bentleigh Secondary College – a world recognised, very sustainable school
• Small and Medium Enterprises Award – Rae-Line for embedding sustainability practices in manufacturing soft trim components for trucks
• Large Business Award – Victoria Carpets
• Community Award – Moonee Valley City Council and Wingate Avenue Community Centre
