Environment awards

2007 Winners + Finalists

Sustainable Environment Award Winners 2007

Individual - Jack Harper
Environmental Education - Nicki Elmore & Lois Williams
Youth - Churchill Park School
Sustainable Urban Communities - Friends of Oakley Creek
Sustainable Rural Communities - Kawakawa Bay Weka-Watch
Sustainable Business - Higgins Contractors Auckland
Sustainable Public Sector - Auckland City Environment and Utility Management
Supreme Winner - Jack Harper

For a list of all place getters please view the categories below

Individual category

Winner/Supreme Winner
Jack Harper
Catalyst for environment enhancement on the Awhitu Peninsula
Jack is a catalyst for environmental enhancement on the Awhitu Peninsula. The Landcare group that nominated him said he is someone who "...is open to showing others what can be achieved."
Jack is passionate about protecting the environment and is viewed as something of an environmental pioneer who got involved in environmental work many years before it became an acceptable or popular thing to do.

Highly Commended
Daoud Kadhim
Arabic Waste Minimisation Programme
To increase environmental awareness among Arabic speaking people through seminars, lectures and radio programme. The Waste minimisation programme started in 06 and is ongoing, and the radio programme started Feb 07 at Planet FM 104.6.

Commended
Adam Buckingham
Recycled Activity Centres
Transforming rubbish into learning experiences for children. Showing and teaching others what they can do with waste. Linking communities together.

Commended
John C Blundell
Beach Cleaner Extraordinaire
John has, of his own volition, made a daily round along the whole of the Kawakawa Bay foreshore picking up all the litter of whatever nature because of his personal concerns for the environment. He has done this for many years. John is 89 years of age and uses his mobility scooter to carry out the work.

Commended
Morris Jones
Extending and improving Red Hill Forest

Extending a native bush to bring areas' of the Pa and adjacent land together, so they are closely aligned and compliment each other.

Environmental Education Category

Joint Winner
Lois Williams
Papakura Normal School - Environmental Project
To enable children to enhance the physical environment of the school so that they take ownership and responsibility for the care of their environment. To develop systems within the school to encourage sustainability and to be "environmentally friendly".

Joint Winner
Nicki Elmore
Meadowbank School - Education for Sustainability
Developing a sustainable school. To integrate environmental education across curriculum programmes. Environmental education as per national curriculum, whole school involvement in sustainability, zero waste, energy saving in, gully resource shared via internet, walking school bus and environmental days recognised and celebrated.

Highly Commended
Laureen Mcleod
Beachlands School
The aim of the development of Kaiawa Gardens and the worm farms were to try to create a more sustainable environment within the school. It was also to provide experiences for the children where they could participate in the development of these sustainable practices.

Commended
Shelley Jolly & Rhonda Jasper
St James Kindergarten - Journey towards becoming a sustainable learning environment
Over the last eighteen months St James Kindergarten has been involved in an amazing journey in creating a more healthy, sustainable environment. The project resulted in waste reduction, water conservation, production of organic food andless toxins used in cleaning.

Commended
Wayne Bainbridge
Matipo Primary School - School in the Park project
Rubbish separation and recycling, paper recycling scheme, operation spring clean - 13 years, creation of nature trail, school in the park concept - beautification, landscape features and planting of school grounds.

Youth Category

Winner
Churchill Park School- Zero Waste Project
The aim of the project was to implement best practices into the school in order to create a ‘zero waste school' and hopefully someday a ‘zero waste community'. The mission of the school was to challenge and change the attitudes and habits of people through education.

Highly Commended
Henderson Valley School - Stream Team
Water quality and ecology monitoring of the upper Opanuku Stream. To identify any water quality issues in the upper Opanuku, maintain a long term dataset on stream quality changes over time, and environmental education of the local community.

Commended
Wairau Valley Special School - Wenderholm Work Experience
The aim of the project is to provide special needs students from Wairau Valley Special School with an opportunity to do work experience at Regional Park .

Commended
Ashley, Brooke and Courtney Varney - Environmental Volunteer Work
Volunteers assisting to restore the cultural and natural landscape of Motutapu. Also involved at Garden school in Puhinui Stream restoration, arbor day planting, wai care testing, the Gardens School environmental group, kiwi conservation club, members of the BCU, recycle monitors, clean up NZ week litter clean ups

Sustainable Urban Communities Category

Winner
Friends of Oakley Creek, Te Auaunga
Restored and Protected as a natural eco system
To protect, preserve, enhance and restore the ecological health of Oakley Creek - Te Auaunga and it's environs. The current management plan is from 2005-2010.

Highly Commended
Waitakere Ranges Protection Society
Protecting Waitakere Ranges
The Waitakere Ranges Protection Society has been in existence since 1973 and in that time has campaigned for the preservation and restoration of the Ranges through direct action in restoration planting, weed control, through interventions on both planning matters and on public works which threatened the integrity of the area.

Highly Commended
Project Twin Streams
Community Contract Organisations
The vision for the project is working together for healthy streams and strong communities: creating a sustainable future. The project is delivered by 5 community contract organisations and a group of motivated residents in Swanson, who are directly resourced to plant and maintain local areas. These contract organisations are managed by a wide variety of community groups and include: Project Twin Streams Ranui-Massey, Project Twin Streams Henderson Creek, Project Twin Streams Opanuku Stream, Project Twin Streams Glen Eden, Project Twin Streams Oratia Stream.

Commended
Otara Lake & Creek Community Liaison Committee
Otara Lake and Creek Project
The project aims to restore as close as possible the natural environment of the Otara Lake & Creek Catchment with clean, clear water that provides a suitable habitat for all flora & fauna in a cultural environment.

Commended
Pahurehure Inlet Protection Society Inc
From Trash to Treasure - Obtainable and Sustainable
To restore, protect and enhance the coastal environment of Pahurehure Inlet No.2. To see the area is managed and nurtured by a unified and consistent 'philosophy of protection" of the benefit of the citizens of Papakura. To endorse initiatives that preserve and promote the unique ecological and aesthetic values of the inlet and to promote development of this area for recreational use by the community

Commended
EcoMatters Environment Trust
Sustainable Living Centre
The Sustainable Living Centre is a vibrant place of learning which aims to provide visitors with practical tools and knowledge that they can easily apply in their own homes and in their daily lives.

Sustainable Rural Communities Category

Winner
Kawakawa Bay Weka-Watch
Rosemary and John Cotman
The project seeks to encourage the permanent establishment of the endangered North Island weka which only exists at two other sites in the North Island plus a handful of offshore islands.

Highly Commended
Great Barrier Island Charitable Island Trust
Rat and feral cat eradication Project
The principle activities of the Trust are in protecting, enhancing, developing and maintaining habitats for NZ native and endemic species on Great Barrier Island , with particular focus on pest management.

Sustainable Business Category

Winner
Higgins Contractors - Auckland Asphalt Plant
The range of activities carried out by the Higgins Group includes quarrying, concrete manufacture, asphalt manufacture, roading construction and maintenance and civil constructions. The company prides itself in delivering sustainable construction solutions in the area of roading, infrastructure and civil works.

Highly Commended
Three Kings Quarry - Winstone Aggregates
It has been necessary for the Three Kings Quarry to make improvements in environmental practice. At Three Kings, Winstones has gone further in adopting a formal strategy of implementing improvements beyond compliance, in recognition of the sensitivity of the urban environment in which it operates.

Highly Commended
Smales Farm Technology Office Park
Smales Farm Technology office park has a vision to be a hub of leveraged knowledge-based hi-tech economic development for North Shore City , the wider Auckland region and for NZ by providing a campus like environment with sustainable architecture exemplifying low impact urban design and development principles.

Commended
Leighton Works - SH 20 Manukau Extension
The SH20 Manukau Extension is a $210 million Design and Construct contract being undertaken for Transit NZ by Leighton Works Infrastructure Ltd. Site works commenced in November 2006 and completion is scheduled for August 2010.

Finalist
Enjo NZ - Business with a Conscience
Together with our independent ENJO consultants and customers, we will reduce the use of chemicals used for cleaning, so that we can enhance peoples' lifestyle and safeguard the environment for present and future generations.

Sustainable Public Sector Category

Winner
Auckland City Environment and Utility Management
Waiatarua Wetland Restoration
This is the largest urban wetland restoration undertaken in New Zealand . What was previously a degraded bog has been transformed into a quality wetland providing storm water treatment and wildlife habitat benefits that Aucklanders will enjoy for generations to come. Waiatarua Reserve is a model for how wetlands can be employed to reduce contaminates entering receiving environments whilst providing valued additional habitat.

Highly Commended
HNZC
Northcote Community Renewal: Demonstration Community Garden
This project began out of a desire from HNZC tenants to participate in a small community garden to grow vegetables, which they would like to give out to families who could benefit from the locally grown produce. The project has grown since Sept 2006 to offer a tool library, local children painted the fence, trips planned to visit other gardens. Workshops have been run by North Shore City on composting and worm farming.

Finalist
Orakei Community Centre
Implementing sustainable environmental management at Orakei Centre
Aim of the project is for the centre to be managed in a sustainable manner, looking at its waste, energy and water usage, and also promoting alternative transport options while continuing to provide needs-led programmes for a sustainable community.