The 2016 Actsmart Business Sustainability Awards celebrate Canberra businesses that have ramped up waste management and recycling and improved their energy and water use. What is amazing about the businesses at this year’s awards is their diversity, proving that any business in the ACT can get smart with sustainability and save money at the same time.
There are 12 winners across eight categories with five businesses highly commended for 2016. We toast them all and share the results from a few winners to show what is possible.
A joint winner of the Energy and Water Star Awards is the Spence Family Bakery. Its 25 year-old oven was eating up profits and adding to the $1,500 per month energy bill. The bakery used its $5,000 Actsmart rebate to buy a new oven. Seeing the benefits, the bakery also upgraded 20 fluros with LED lights and replaced an old chest freezer. The new oven alone is saving this small business about $3,000 a year and more than nine tonnes of CO2 a year.
The other winner of this award, the Smith Family in Woden, received a $5,000 rebate which they put towards an upgrade of the heating and cooling system, saving $6,500 a year on energy bills and more than 20 tonnes of CO2 a year.
Celebrating recycling is big at the Actsmart awards and that includes at the festivals Canberra embraces. These types of events attract thousands and create heaps of waste. Proper recycling is therefore key and hats off to the two events that won awards for recycling.
The Canberra Balloon Spectacular attracted 40,000 visitors and hosted a big breakfast. The recycling figures over the event’s nine days are staggering-714 kilograms of mixed recycling, 153 kilograms of organics, 148 kilograms of cardboard and 30 litres of cooking oil. The CBR Hottest 100 Beach Party, held on Australia Day, also won in this category, attracting 300 visitors and recycling 511 kilograms of organic and mixed recycling that would have ended up in landfill.
Small businesses were also applauded, including Eden Hair and Beauty in Dickson, which was highly commended for leadership by Minister Simon Corbell, Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, ACT Government. The salon is dedicated to reducing waste by recycling. They stretch even further with clever thinking, like sweeping up hair creating ‘hair blooms’ for use in cleaning up oil spills.
Actsmart offers a range of free programs to support businesses to recycle and decrease their energy and water use. More than 1000 businesses have already signed up to Actsmart programs, kicking big goals for the environment and the bottom line. There are thousands more businesses operating in the capital that need to get involved. Why not? It’s a win-win.
For more tips, information and resources visit the Actsmart Sustainability
Hub www.actsmart.act.gov.au and follow us on: Facebook: Actsmart – Canberra
Twitter: @SustainableCBR Contact number: 13 22 81 Email: [email protected]
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