Drouin in the Spotlight

This week we put the spotlight on our HomeChoices house in Drouin. The residents are actively embracing recycling and making some great progress towards sustainability.

They have put up the laminated bin signs, which were made available to all HomeChoices houses, to clearly show which kitchen bin is for what waste material.

Only cold water is used when using the washing machine and they no longer use the dishwasher. The residents use a timer to help them stick to the shorter showers, with staff giving a knock on the door when time is up.

The residents are also enjoying vegetarian meals once a week. It may not be obvious, but producing meat for us to eat causes harm to the environment. Natural habitats are damaged to create land for the farmed animals and there are also issues of erosion, waste, pollution and native wildlife being threatened.

So well done to the Drouin residents and staff for making some positive changes!

Click here to download your bin signs.

Booran Spreading the Word

In Edition 7 we ran a story about the great efforts of the team at Booran.

Since then, the residents (Michael, Ricky, Robert, Burt, John and Ryan) have shared their sustainability stories with people at work, or at their day placement, to promote the project.

Ricky and Burt’s day placement program has reciprocated, by sharing their own stories about their recycling sustainability programs.

Good work everyone, this is another big tick towards the Community Involvement Star!

UNAA World Environment Day Awards

On Friday the 4th June a representative group from the Foundation attended the UNAA World Environment Day Awards evening. Our SustainAbility Stars program had been nominated as a finalist for the Education/School Award.

It was a fantastic night, with Sandra, a HomeChoices direct support worker, Kerry-Anne, a HomeChoices resident and champion of the program, Sharon, our SustainAbility Project Officer, Richard and Gail from the Office of the CEO attending.

While we didn’t win the award, it was a wonderful achievement to be a finalist as nominations were received from across Australia. We received a certificate to recognise our nomination as a finalist.

So again, congratulations to everyone involved in this program and we look forward to its continued success and to making a positive difference to the environment.

For more information on the event and the finalists, click here

Click here if you would like to download this newsletter in PDF format.

In Other News

At our Carnegie office, we undertook a waste audit as part of World Environment Day. We received a certificate of appreciation for supporting the day (pictured below left) and learned a few important things about our waste management practices.

Many major cities around the world have them, and it’s now Melbourne’s turn to experience the convenience of a public bike system. Bike sharing is an alternative means of urban transport that is both healthy and versatile. Melbourne Bike Share is a convenient way to make a short trip in the city.

Simply purchase the subscription that suits you, take a bike when you need it and then return it to one of the 50 bike stations throughout the city. Melbourne Bike Share is operated by RACV and is an initiative of the Victorian Government

Click here for more details

SustainAbility Star-ter Kit

For more information about EW Tipping Foundation’s SustainAbility Project, the SustainAbility Stars program, or to download our free SustainAbility Star-ter Kit, go to www.tipping.org.au or email sustainability@tipping.org.au