The City of Canada Bay, NSW, is the winner of the Overall Sustainable Council award, the top honour of the Keep Australian Beautiful Australian Sustainable Cities Awards.
Canada Bay also picked up awards for the Dame Phyllis Frost Litter Prevention, Water Conservation and Energy Innovation categories. The city also recently received international recognition at the UN-endorsed Liveable Communities Awards.
"Council's Walk/Shop/Wheel program is a great initiative that has engaged the local community in actively reducing their eco-footprint. By distributing over 830 wheelie bags to those individuals who have committed to walking or riding to local shops, the program not only reduces carbon emissions, but encourages people to get fit at the same time," says senator Ursula Stephens.
The City of Canada Bay's Water Savings Action Plan was developed with a potable water use reduction target of 40 per cent, earning them the Water Conservation Award, sponsored by Grundfos Pumps.
Their success in this area is particularly evident in Cintra Hockey Park, which has recycled over 6.5 million litres of water in the past 18 months and the Powell Creek Reserve stormwater harvesting project, which saves 2 million litres of water per annum.
Grundfos Australia's marketing manager, Tiffany Bermingham, says, "It's fantastic to see city councils such as Canada Bay initiating proactive and innovative water conservation initiatives. We hope cities across Australia can take some inspiration from these initiatives to better manage their own water resources."
To reduce energy use in Canada Bay, solar lighting is installed in parks and a lighting management system at 17 local sports fields reduces energy use by 15 to 20 per cent. The Concord Library also has many energy reduction features in place, including carbon neutral carpet; natural ventilation incorporated into the air-conditioning system allowing night purges and airflow reversal; solar panels to pre-heat water; T5 lamps; swipe card and movement-detector activated lighting.
