TWO new awards are highlighting sustainable business initiatives in Greater Dandenong.
The council will present awards to a business and a development at an SEBN breakfast event on 3 May.
The finalists for the Sustainable Business Award are Wallara Australia, International Chemicals Engineering, Hilton Manufacturing and Lexington Gardens Retirement Village.
The Sustainable Development Award finalists are the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (SMCT) for Springvale Botanical Cemetery’s Clarence Reardon Centre; EPC Pacific for the Australia Tax Office building in Central Dandenong; and two Frasers Property developments – the Tyres 4U Warehouse and the Astral Pool Distribution Centre.
The business nods follow awards presented at the Family Sustainability Festival at Dandenong Market on 21 February.
The awards recognised and rewarded the community’s efforts towards a more sustainable environment.
Eddie Botha won the Sustainable Home and Garden award for changes he and his wife have made to their property.
They’re committed to leaving the world in a liveable and healthy state for their children and believe sustainability has a place in every home.
They have installed 17 planter boxes to grow vegetables, herbs and native plants; planted fruit trees including lemons, apricots and plums; installed a solar panel system and water tanks; and diverted washing machine water to their lawn and trees.
Mr Botha is also committed to reducing his impact on a daily basis and uses an electric scooter to travel around.
“It gives me great joy knowing we are using less yet saving more, which benefits both us and the environment,” he said.
Gaye Guest and Kath O’Brien were finalists in the category.
Wooranna Park Primary was the Sustainable School Award winner.
The Noble Park school has installed 30 solar panels that display real-time energy data for students to see, resulting in a 15 per cent drop in energy consumption.
Through signing up to the School’s Water Efficiency program, the school identified a leak it then repaired.
It has installed a rainwater tank; incorporated recycling and organic waste bins in each classroom; repaired discarded bikes that now help students learn to ride; and planted more than 1000 plants on the school grounds.
“The students are taking what they learn in the class and on the school grounds back home where they are leading by example to their family and contributing to a lower environmental footprint,” school environmental educator Anthony Lyon said.
Noble Park Primary School and Emerson School were finalists for the Sustainable School category.
There were four winners in the Sustainable Students category.
Sa Up and Yuhao Chen are chicken monitors at Noble Park Primary School, feeding the chooks and collecting eggs.
Emily Stephens from Wooranna Park is a leader on the school’s environment committee, a chicken carer and a sustainability advocate, and she headed the zoology program.
Her classmate Sonja Iovan showed great enthusiasm as a leader and participant in the school’s environment programs. She was a chicken monitor and a leader in the school’s Friday Produce Market.
