Green Globes Lifetime achievement award win
02 December 2019
Council’s sustainability and environmental leadership recognised
Tweed Shire Council has won the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for Organisations at the 2019 Green Globe Awards. The awards recognise and celebrate sustainability leadership and environmental protection in NSW.
For more than two decades, Tweed Shire Council has enacted a strong commitment to protecting its internationally significant environment through catchment management activities and adopting a Renewable Energy Action Plan, to name just a few projects.
These achievements, plus many more, earned Council the coveted Green Globes trophy at an awards ceremony in Sydney late last week. The annual Green Globe Awards are NSW's premier environmental awards, recognising and celebrating collaboration, partnerships and projects that encourage others to achieve positive change and protect our environment.
Director Sustainable Communities and Environment, Tracey Stinson said Tweed Shire Council was thrilled to be recognised with a Green Globe Award.
“Our team has been working in this space for over 20 years and have built a credible reputation as sustainability leaders by delivering tangible environmental outcomes,” Ms Stinson said.
“We are proud to be making real progress towards a better future for our planet and the next generation.
“A very special thanks to all of our wonderful Council staff who are so passionate and dedicated to protecting and enhancing our diverse environment in this region and to our committed community who also make significant contributions to the health of the Tweed’s environment through their actions,” Ms Stinson said.
Tweed Shire Council’s goal is to generate 25 percent of its energy requirements through renewable sources by 2022 and 50 percent by 2025.
“Council is on track to achieving this, with more than 780 kilowatts of solar installed at 16 Council facilities, saving over 1,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and approximately $200,000 of energy costs per year,” Ms Stinson said.
“We have also improved the diversion of waste from landfill from 42 percent to 62 per cent through the introduction of the ‘Less to Landfill’ three bin waste collection service, which means we are well on our way to achieving our ‘zero waste’ target.
“We have worked with local landholders to plant almost 50,000 koala habitat trees, and helped survival rates of some of Tweed’s threatened bird species such as the Osprey, Bush Stone-curlew and Beach Stone-curlew. As a result of this active engagement, the Bush Stone-curlew population has grown from critically low numbers of breeding pairs in 2012 to more than 35 breeding pairs in 2018.
“And more recently, I’d like to acknowledge the work of our Community Development team in helping to build the capacity and resilience of our older and vulnerable community to prepare and manage the risks of climate change,” she said.
Find out more about Council’s Sustainability program at www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/SustainabilityProgram
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Caption: Director Sustainable Communities and Environment, Tracey Stinson and Unit Coordinator - Sustainability and Environment, Jane Lofthouse with the Green Globe award back on home soil in the Tweed.