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Wodonga's Sort and Save facility takes out category award
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Posted: 27/05/2009
WODONGA Council's Sort and Save recycling centre has taken out the ‘Improving Service Delivery Through Collaborations' category at the 2009 National Awards For Local Government.
A total of 21 council and shire projects were selected as category winners, with independent judging panels selecting the winners across 11 award categories.
Overall, 233 entries were received from local councils, making this year one of the more competitive awards in recent times. The 2009 category award winners came from every state in the Commonwealth, and included urban, regional, rural and remote councils.
The theme for this year's awards is ‘Local Government – Building Australian Communities'. The national awards have been held annually since 1986 and are intended to highlight innovation in delivering infrastructure and services to local communities.
Sustainable development director Johan Louw said Wodonga Council was delighted to be recognised for its innovate community recycling centre.
“These awards help councils to share good practice in order to find local solutions for community challenges,” he said.
“Recycling is a challenge for the entire world and we believe our project is going a long way to help re-use and recycle items that would otherwise end up in landfill.”
Mr Johan said the Sort and Save facility has been doing brisk business since opening in November, 2008.
“Materials recovered can include general household bric-a-brac, furniture, sporting goods, hand tools, pushbikes, art works and gardening tools,” he said.
“This is truly a community project, as we have joined with Kalianna Enterprises, whose staff will be doing the dismantling of goods, Corrections Victoria, with community workers providing labour, and the shop operators, The Recovery GAME.”
Wodonga Council and Sustainability Victoria combined resources to build the centre in Kane Rd, Wodonga. The facility cost approximately $480,000 to build, which included $75,000 of funds from Sustainability Victoria.
The category winners will now go on to the national judging round to determine the overall national winners. National winners will be announced at the Australian Council of Local Government meeting next month. More information about the awards can be found at www.infrastructure.gov.au/local/awards.
