Hume and Whittlesea councils have cleaned up at the 2015 Sustainable Cities awards.
Whittlesea took out two awards, one in the cultural heritage sector for its annual cultural heritage program, which has been running for 15 years. The program invites residents to learn about the municipality’s history and celebrates cultural diversity, history and heritage through tours, events and festivals.
The council won in the awards’ resource recovery and waste management section for its program teaching residents how to build computers from old parts.
Earlier this year, staff at Whittlesea council’s Epping depot ran a 10-week pilot program with Lalor Primary School pupils in grades 3 and 5, teaching them to build a computer for under $100 using second-hand computer parts from La Trobe University. The program was later expanded and run at three libraries.
Meanwhile, Hume council’s Enviro Champions program, which helps residents improve the environment, won a ‘community action and leadership’ prize at the June 12 awards ceremony.
Hume mayor Adem Atmaca, said the award acknowledged the way Hume’s ‘enviro champions’ had enhanced the local environment. He said more than 60 residents had boosted the volume of food grown in Hume through planting vegetables and herbs in new community garden beds.
