Blog | 20th Aug, 2012

City of Yarra Sustainability Awards

Last week Environment Victoria’s GreenTown Program was Highly Commended in the City of Yarra’s annual Sustainability Awards!

Held on Thursday the 16th of August at Richmond Town Hall, the night gave local groups, supporters and environment campaigners the opportunity to reflect on the achievements and progress made within the City of Yarra community over the last year. 

Our own GreenTown Collingwood project was nominated for recognition in the Community Action Category. GreenTown Collingwood trains and empowers local leaders who live on Collingwood Housing Estate to engage their neighbours in sustainable living through workshops and home sustainability assessments.

Project Manager Michele Burton said:

“The community leaders at Collingwood have visited over 120 homes on the housing estate to deliver a personal energy, waste and water assessment for their community neighbours. Our local community consultant Abdi Moalin has been so enthusiastic and our gratitude extends to everyone at Collingwood who has supported the project along the way”. 

So far, GreenTown households have saved:

• 4 tonnes of greenhouse emissions per year through energy efficiency

• 61,000 litres of water per year

• 119kg of waste from going to landfill

Winners of the Community Action category were the Australian Vietnamese Women’s Association Sustainability Program and Cultivating Community’s ‘Compost Crew’.  

The evening’s key note speaker, Yarra’s citizen of the year Glenda Lindsay, encouraged guests to continue “telling people that the things they do make a difference and don’t let anyone tell you differently”. 

The next GreenTown Collingwood celebration will come in the form of a photography exhibition, showcasing the environmental insight of the young people from the Collingwood Housing Estate community- watch this space! 

Find out more about Green Town