Keep Australia Beautiful has announced the winners of the 2016 Australian Tidy Towns Awards. The sustainability and litter-fighting organisation set out to recognise the hard work undertaken by individuals and groups in rural communities and share these best practices and ideas to continue to improve our vibrant rural towns. Running since 1990, the national awards are sponsored by the Australian Packaging Covenant and the Department of the Environment.
The Northern Territory finalist Mount Liebig was awarded a Special Commendation for coming in at a close second to the overall Australian Tidy Towns winner Triabunna, Tasmania.
Mount Liebig was also highly commended for Community Action and Wellbeing; Dame Phyllis Frost Litter Prevention, Waste Management & Resource Recovery; Heritage and Culture, and Environmental Education. The awards ceremony was hosted by 2015 title holder Toodyay in Western Australia on 18 March.
Australian Tidy Towns judge Jill Grant said, “The sense of arrival at this spectacular and culturally significant community is matched by the impressive array of projects that have been generated to improve both the aesthetic appeal and environmental health of the community.”
“This is a highly cohesive community with strong recognition of caring for country and each other,” Ms Grant said.
Philip Robinson, CEO of Keep Australia Beautiful said, “The town’s landfill has been developed to best practice standards for central Australia and separation of white goods, scrap steel, car tyres, aluminium and other products that can be either sold or reused. Money that is raised form sales goes back into community projects.”
“It’s pleasing to see another year of high calibre National finalists from every corner of our amazing country,” Mr Robinson said.
The two-day event included a tour of Toodyay that showcased some of the town’s excellent projects which contributed to their win last year; an address by Rhys Williams, the 2015 WA Young Person of the year; highlights from Jill Grant’s judging tour; finalist case studies; as well as opportunities which allowed representatives the chance to share information and network with like-minded professionals from around Australia.
David Carter, CEO of the Australian Packaging Covenant (APC) said, “The Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Towns program provides an important platform for communities and their local councils to share their achievements in litter prevention and environmental sustainability.”
“The APC is pleased to be a key supporter of the nation-wide KAB Tidy Towns awards and we congratulate all finalists and the 2016 award winners.”
This year the program received 308 applicants, with 1454 category submissions across councils, shires, community groups, schools, and individuals.
The full judge reports and winners book are available at kab.org.au.