SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Since 1994 the Sustainable Cities Awards have been acknowledging and celebrating metropolitan Councils, organisations, and communities who are making greater Sydney more sustainable and liveable.

Keep Australia Beautiful NSW (KAB NSW) is pleased to announce Penrith City Council as the overall winner of the Keep Australia Beautiful NSW 2023 Sustainable Cities Awards. 

Running since 1994 these awards recognise and support the achievements of Councils and their communities who are actively working towards making Sydney a model for sustainable practices.

In addition to the overall trophy Penrith also took out the Circular Economy Award for its Penrith’s Recycled Coffee Cups in Road Base project.

The award was presented on 12th October at a KAB NSW function hosted by the by previous year’s winner, Randwick City Council.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL MEDIA RELEASE

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE 2023 WINNERS BOOK

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE KAB NSW 2023 SUSTAINABLE CITIES WINNERS AND HIGHLY COMMENDED TABLE

Photos from the event are available at: https://clients.paulbenjamin.com.au/-cities23. Please credit Paul Benjamin Photography.

2023 Finalists

Keep Australia Beautiful NSW (KAB NSW) is thrilled to announce the category finalists for the 2023 Sustainable Cities Awards and recognise the extraordinary contributions of all organisations and individuals who have entered this year’s awards.

Biodiversity

  • Plant with Us Program (Randwick City Council Plant with Us Team)
  • Building Bridges to Boorowa (North Sydney Council & Boorowa Community Landcare Group)
  • Bayside Biodiversity Program (Bayside Council)
  • Connecting Camden White Gum (Camden Council)
  • Living Seawall Habitat Boulders (Sydney By Kayak)
  • Long Reef Coastal Walk Bush Regeneration (Bushlink)
  • Microbat monitoring (Ku-ring-gai Council Natural Areas Team)
  • Building Biodiversity-Protecting Godwits (City of Canada Bay)

Circular Economy (Sponsored by NSW EPA)

  • Bayside: Paving the Way Crumb Rubber (Bayside Council)
  • EduCycle Ewaste Revive (eWaste Sydney)
  • Kitchen Gardens Pilot Project (Cumberland City Council)
  • Recycled Coffee Cups in Road Base (Penrith City Council)
  • Soft Plastics in the Circular Economy (Randwick City Council)

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
(Sponsored by Red Energy)

  • A climate resilient Blacktown City (Blacktown City Council)
  • Community-led Resilience (Lane Cove Council)
  • Racing to Zero: Net Zero Emissions Targets (City of Canada Bay)
  • Renewable Power Purchase Agreement (Cumberland City Council)

Communication and Engagement

  • Fire Hazards Caused by Batteries (Bayside Council)
  • ‘I Care About a Clean Street’ campaign (Canterbury Bankstown Council – Sustainable Future)
  • Loving Living Ku-ring-gai (Ku-ring-gai Council Environment & Sustainability Team)
  • The Coal Loader Living Classroom (North Sydney Council)
  • Wheelie Good Repair Skills (Penrith City Council)

Heritage, Culture and Community Spirit

  • Bringing Country back to Wetlands (Wildflower)
  • CONTEMPLATE – Public Artwork (Blacktown City Council)
  • Designing with Country (Bayside Council)
  • Elders in Residence (Blacktown Arts)
  • Ku-ring-gai’s Sculpture Trail (Ku-ring-gai Council)
  • WestCare Christmas Appeal (WestCare Community Services)

Litter Prevention (Sponsored by NSW EPA)

Clean Communities

  • Keep Homebush West Clean! (Strathfield Municipal Council)
  • Love Your Home Ground (Inner West Council)
  • Luv the Lake Litter Prevention Program (Wollongong City Council and Shellharbour City Council)
  • Nudie Tuesdays and Waste Free Wednesdays (Regentville Public School)

Clean Waterways

  • Be A Sport: Let’s Stop Rubber Crumb Loss (AUSMAP and Ku-ring-gai Council)
  • Sydney Harbour Conservation Project (Sydney By Kayak)
  • Ocean Health Lab (Seabin Foundation)
  • Zero Litter in Georges River (Georges Riverkeeper)

Liveable Cities

  • Blacktown City Cool Centres Program (Blacktown City Council)
  • Wyatt Park – Lidcombe @ Night (Cumberland City Council)
  • Sir Joseph Banks Park Adventure Playspace (Bayside Council)
  • Landscape Olympics (Bayside Council)
  • Harris Creek Reserve Fairy Glen Garden (Fairy Glen Committee and Liverpool City Council)

Local Legends

< 25 years

  • Environmental Leadership Group (Kegworth Public School)
  • Sustainability (Ajuga School)
  • Sustainability at IGS (International Grammar School)

25 – 65 years

  • A shining example of inspiration & action (Peter Maganov)
  • City of Newcastle Illegal Dumping Project (City of Newcastle and Newcastle Community Corrections)
  • Mr Sustainability (Geoff Raymond)
  • Paint to Donate Australia (Jemma Wlasichuk, Shed Eleven)

> 65 years

  • APS North Shore Group Ku-ring-gai (Australian Plant Society NSW – North Shore District Group)
  • Biodiversity Predator-Safe Pontoons (The Fix It Sister Shed)
  • Recycling for our Community (The Auburn Hospital Recycling Team)

Resource Recovery and Waste Management

  • Correcting Waste Issues (Randwick City Council)
  • Imperfect Low Waste Living Program (North Sydney Council)
  • Recycle Your Bicycle (Penrith City Council)
  • Strathfield LGA Recycling Day (Strathfield Municipal Council)
  • Textile Drop-off Day (Penrith City Council)

Sustainability in Business

  • Protein Recovery’s Sustainable Future (Bush’s Proteins – AJ Bush & Sons (Manufactures) Pty Ltd)
  • Zero-waste Click & Collect (Manly Food Co-operative)

Overall Sustainable Cities Award

  • Bayside Council
  • North Sydney Council
  • Ku-ring-gai Council
  • Penrith City Council
  • Cumberland Council
  • Strathfield Municipal Council
  • Blacktown City Council

Past Winners

The Sustainable Cities Awards were created to, firstly, celebrate the amazing achievements of councils, community groups, organisations, and individuals, and secondly, to provide a medium through which we can all apply learnings, feedback, and ideas to current or future projects.

You can view project/program descriptions of the previous winners below to help you with your future sustainability endeavours.