2010 Local Council Award

The winner of the 2010 Local Council Award has been announced!

Well done to Sunshine Coast Council for winning the 2010 Local Council Award.

Veolia has partnered with Clean Up Australia to present the 2010 Local Council Award. The award is to encourage councils to contribute to Clean Up Australia Day in outstanding ways and to implement or sustain long term waste initiatives.

Applicants were judged by a panel on the number of Sites in their local area, site organisation, growth, promotional activity, the number and variety of community groups, communication with Clean Up Australia, support to site coordinators, waste recycling collection, and how they will utilise the prize money.

The Sunshine Coast Council has made a bold commitment to become Australia's most sustainable region - vibrant, green and diverse. Key to this vision is the development of a regional waste management strategy.

In order to achieve this, an effective education program, Waste 2 Resource has been established. The Waste 2 Resource Program has a goal to reach as many residents, schools, businesses and industry of the Sunshine Coast as possible within budget restraints. This has proved to be a challenge within one of the largest councils in Queensland. This challenge has promoted innovative strategies from a team of dedicated people. The funds from the Local Council Award would support these strategies by providing funding for infrastructure.

The Council's vision is to support schools with infrastructure and training through the STARS program to ensure waste minimisation techniques are embedded in school curriculum to achieve long term goals. It is then planned for this program to expand into businesses and industry.

Sunshine Coast 2010 Clean Up Australia Day

The council's aim for 2010 Clean Up Australia Day was to encourage community awareness and pride in combating litter and illegal dumping. Extreme weather conditions meant the event was spread over three weekends, however, site coordinators were determined to hold the event.

All areas of the community were represented with schools, businesses, community organisations, service clubs, and even tourists helping to make the Sunshine Coast shine. What made this year so special was the support shown to these groups by the rest of the community. People signed up to regular sites expanding their range and increasing the area covered this year.

Prizes

As the national winner, the Sunshine Coast Council received $5000 towards a community based environmental project, donated by one of Clean Up Australia's major sponsors Veolia Environnement Services.