Outstanding Council Initiative

The Outstanding Council Initiative award goes to a council who has implemented an innovative greenhouse initiative or project. Initiatives are featured bi-monthly, coinciding with the publication of the online CCP Bulletin.

The Cities for Climate Protection Rural Victoria Manager kicked off the Kicking Goals for the Environment Project with the Northeast Greenhouse Alliance (NEGHA). CCP and the NEGHA worked together to draft the Ovens and Murray Football League to captain this innovative community engagement project.

As football and netball are a vital part of the social fabric of rural communities, the Kicking Goals for the Environment project sought to combine the football lifeblood of the Northeast Region of Victoria with a strong environmental message. The high energy use, spectator and user number makes community sporting facilities, like football clubs, the perfect platform to engage and educate the community about saving energy and water, drought and climate change.

As captain of the Kicking Goals for the Environment project, Ovens and Murray Football League mobilised a multitude of project partners to  communicate and demonstrate resource conservation to local football clubs and the sporting public.

Once all measures are implemented, it is expected the energy and water savings actions implemented across the sporting facilities alone will result in an annual abatement of 300 tonnes of greenhouse gases and will save 5.4 million litres of potable water each year.

The project was supported with $100,000 from the Federal Government through the LETA-SA grant, $100,000 through the State Government of Victoria’s Smart Water Fund grant and another $40,000 of financial and in-kind support from the Northeast Greenhouse Alliance, the Cities for Climate Protection councils (Wangarratta, Alpine, Towong, Wodonga, Moira, Indigo) in the north East region of Victoria, and the CCP Rural Victoria Manager. The Kicking Goals for the Environment project is a fantastic example of all 3 levels of Australian governments working as a team to support a regional project.

The Kicking Goals for the Environment project was established to demonstrate and communicate responses to climate change and drought in a setting that was familiar to regular sporting facility users. 

The demonstration of energy and water efficient technologies in conjunction with supporting education materials was intended to encourage behavioural change and help the community to take energy and water efficiency into consideration when making purchasing decisions.

The Kicking Goals for the Environment project aimed to demonstrate and communicate responses to climate change and drought in familiar settings. The project followed a 5 step project management process:

1. Energy and water audit of the 10 football clubs (including a community survey)
2. Assess and prioritise actions for implementation
3. Implement actions
4. Project promotion
5. Measure performance (including a second community survey to gauge impact of project).

Following the energy and water audits of the football clubs, simple, cost-effective energy and water efficient technologies were installed across the 10 football clubs of the Ovens and Murray Football League. While this was occurring, 500 community members were surveyed to measure community understanding of climate change, energy and water efficiency.  500 Energy Saving packs, including a recycled paper bag, a low-watt globe for installation in the home, a recycled paper pen, a black balloon, a bumper sticker, and information material were provided as an incentive to complete a survey.

The Ovens and Murray Football League called upon football clubs and regional partners to promote the project through each of the football club's communication channels and across radio, print and television media. The League drew upon it's broader sponsorship agreements with corporate partners to produce a television commercial to promote the project across the region. The commercial was played 12 times to a crowd of over 14,000 people throughout the Grand Final.

After the energy and water saving technologies were installed, a 'Sustainability Ladder' that ranked the football clubs on their environmental performance was used to also promote the progress of the project and participating football clubs.

The Kicking Goals for the Environment project demonstrated that communicating climate change responses in familiar settings works. Drafting the Ovens and Murray Football League as captain of this innovative project meant a broad cross section of the Northeast Region of Victoria population base was engaged. This included residents that may not have been attracted to environmental initiatives.

The water and energy saving technologies, showcased through the region's football clubs, showed residents what elements to consider when making purchasing decisions. 

The project has become a model for other sporting organisations and community groups wishing to engage and communicate climate change to their members.

The Hazelmere Timber Recycling Centre, which prevents timber from the industrial and commercial sectors from going to landfill, is currently the only centre in Western Australia of its kind. Run by the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council (EMRC), the Centre turned one this year.  

The EMRC is a local government that works on behalf of six member councils; the Town of Bassendean, Cities of Bayswater, Belmont and Swan and Shires of Kalamunda and Mundaring.

The City of Swan initiated the idea of diverting timber from landfill when a study they conducted highlighted that there were large amounts of timber available for recycling in their region.

Taking up the challenge, the EMRC commissioned a study that found that there was a market for the type of timber waste generated in the region and the quantities of timber available made such a Centre viable.

Member councils have supported this initiative and as a result, more than 8,000 tonnes of timber has been diverted from landfill in the past year.