Sustainable Environment awards

2009 winners

• Winner Beyond Recycling – Community & Supreme Winner 
• Winner General - Individual
• Winner General - Sustainable Communities
• Winner General - Sustainable Schools 
• Winner Beyond Recycling - Schools
• Winner General - Youth
• Winner Beyond Recycling - Business   

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 Winner Beyond Recycling – Community & Supreme Winner

Vision Waitakere Gardens Retirement Village Residents Group

In three years a group of residents at Vision Waitakere have developed more than a hundred communal garden plots, a rose garden and a hydroponics system which provides fresh vegetables for residents. The organic produce that the residents grow is used to supply the village restaurant and the excess produce is offered to other residents for a small cash donation.

They have introduced worm farms to the village and recycle all their own plastics, bottles, tins and paper. They have installed water tanks as an emergency water supply and for irrigation. More then 100 of the 400 residents are involved in one or more of the environmental projects.

Overall, the judges said they felt that residents demonstrated environmental protection with real passion.  The sense of purpose and shared responsibility is good, physically and mentally, for all involved, and the environmental benefits are obvious and will persist and sustain successive generations of residents, judges said.

Winner General - Individual

Sustainable Environment Leadership Award
Louise Graham

Over the past six years Tirimoana Primary School has reduced waste, installed worm farms and solar panels, developed gardens and set up water-wise practices. Teacher Louise Graham was nominated for the award as she has been the brains behind much of the school’s environment work. The school’s efforts have seen it rewarded with Bronze, Silver and, more recently, Green-Gold Enviroschools awards.

Louise is involved in community events including Eco Wise and Keep Waitakere Beautiful initiatives, Operation Spring Clean, and the organisation of groups involved in looking after local parks. She motivates others to get involved in conservation causes such as Forest and Bird Society activities and Seaweek.

Judges said they are impressed by Louise because of the positive influence she has on the children she teaches and the young people and their families whom she works with through her environmental community work in Glendene and Te Atatu South.

Winner General - Sustainable Communities

Paremoremo Community

By working together the Paremoremore group has started its own Neighbourhood Watch, rid local streets of noxious weeds and possums, and organised an extra school bus for the area’s high school students. They have created an organic garden at the local school and organised a clothes swap at the local hall.

A member of the group produces a monthly community newsletter which keeps the community up-to-speed with the group’s projects. Their ‘Pest Free Pare’ project has 62 families involved in animal and pest control work, which covers an area of 150 hectares. The community is big on waste reduction initiatives – such as recycling, composting, bokashi, worm bins and buying in bulk. Other community projects organised by the group are native tree planting days, and riparian management.

Judges were impressed by this community which is very positive and has widespread resident participation.  They said the actions of this group showed that this is a project of “community doing this for the community”.

Winner General - Sustainable Schools

Henderson Valley School

Henderson Valley School is well on the way to achieving its vision of creating a sustainable school. The school has created an edible garden, has a recycling project, restored a wetland and installed a woodchip boiler and solar panels. Students also do work with Project Twin Streams, Keep Waitakere Beautiful and help at ARC’s planting days.  Judges said they were impressed with Henderson Valley School’s environmental projects, which started seven years, because they showed a long-time commitment to the environment.  Students, staff, board of trustees, and the wider community are all involved, which also impressed the judges.

Winner Beyond Recycling - Schools

St James Kindergarten

St James Kindergarten is big on teaching its children about the environment. Embedded in the school’s everyday life are water awareness, gardening, composting, reusing and recycling.  The Judges felt that St James Kindergarten provides the complete sustainable packaging with its projects including worm farms, edible gardens, compost bins and planting. There is a strong focus on repair of equipment and the reuse of old items for student-designed sculptures, to name a few. The judges said staff clearly encouraged inquiry in the minds of students, and reinforce sustainable practices by using the rain tank for student water play activities and to water gardens.

Winner General - Youth

Kshitij Gupta

Kshitij Gupta, an 18-year-old student at Auckland’s International College, has led the school’s Environmental Concerns group for the past year. During that time, he has been responsible for organising environmental activities for fellow students at weekends. The students have planted thousands of trees at sites including Oakley Creek, Hamlins Hill, Opanuku Stream, Wharua Reserve and Coxs Bay, done possum control work and taken part in E-Day. Kshitij also ran a youth trip to Tiritiri Matangi and lead a terrace garden project at his school’s boarding house.

Judges felt that Kshitij has great leadership qualities and had an approach that was inclusive of all students and nationalities. Kshitji approaches his environmental action and advocacy in a consistent, regular manner that builds momentum, gets the numbers involved and he is continually looking for opportunities, said the judges.

Winner Beyond Recycling - Business

Rainbow Valley Farm - Trish Allen and the late Joe Polaischer

Trish Allen and the late Joe Polaischer established Rainbow Valley Farms 22 years ago. With a lot of hard work and determination they transformed 50 acres of rundown, eroded, pest and weed infested land into a world renowned permaculture farm. The couple planted 13,000 trees in their first 15 years to stabilise slip-prone land. They transformed gorse covered land in pasture, and orchard, subtropical food forests and set up mushroom growing areas, vegetable gardens and bee hives. Solar energy is used for water-heating and drying fruit and vegetables. They created much of their home out of materials from their farm or which could be sourced locally. Composting systems are used extensively throughout the farm and over the years Joe and Trish have taught many others how to compost, worm farm or about bokashi.

Trish and her team run or host a range of educational programmes at the farm including a Level 3 Northtech Sustainable Rural Development course.

The couple helped set-up the Matakana markets, which has provided opportunities not only for their business to sell produce but for others in the area. Judges say they were impressed by Rainbow Valley Farms because they live the dream of sustainability through education and organic production.