Shoalhaven City Council was the overall winner in the Towards Zero Net Emissions and Bushfire Recovery categories at the Local Government NSW 2020 Excellence in Environment Awards.
The State Awards, held on Tuesday 13 October via an online ceremony, highlighted outstanding environmental initiatives introduced by Local Governments in the past year.
Shoalhaven City Council Mayor Amanda Findley applauded Council staff for their commitment to introducing sustainable projects to protect the environment across the region.
"I commend Council staff for their hard work and dedication to environmental excellence", Clr Findley said.
"For Shoalhaven City Council to win in both categories that it was nominated as a finalist in is a remarkable achievement and reflects on the outstanding initiatives introduced in the past year", Clr Findley stated.
"These two projects demonstrate that even by taking small steps a local Council can make a big difference to the environment for generations to come", Clr Findley said.
Council won in the Towards Net Zero Emissions Category for its adoption of a series of sustainable energy projects aimed at achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Some of these projects included trialing three fully electric vehicles in its fleet, installation of over 400 kW of solar panels across 10 sites, commencing a revolving energy fund, replacing 4,200 street lights with energy saving LEDs and supporting Repower Shoalhaven's community energy solar farm.
Council also won in the Resource Recovery category for its adoption of a temporary bushfire demolition waste recovery facility aimed at preserving capacity of its only putrescible waste landfill.
Following the destruction of homes and properties in the bushfires of the 2019/2020 summer, any demolition waste that was unaffected by asbestos contamination was able to be recycled.
In the three months of operation, the facility processed nearly 18,000 tonnes of demolition waste from 313 homes, recovering a staggering 96% of the material for reuse.
