By Adam Coleman

Presented at Parliament House, in Sydney earlier this month, the Local Government Excellence in the Environment Awards aims to recognise outstanding achievements by NSW Local Government in managing and protecting the environment.

Warringah Council took out the Sustainable Purchasing Award, which recognises councils that have developed and implemented (or are in the process of implementing) sustainable purchasing and procurement policies and processes for goods and services.

Sponsored by the Department of Environment and Climate Change, the Sustainable Purchasing Award was awarded to Warringah Council for its sustainable procurement strategy which included reducing fleet sizes and fuel types, waste education for staff, businesses and schools and ‘green stationery products’.

“This award demonstrates Council’s commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and creating a greener Warringah,” said Warringah Council Administrator, Dick Persson.

The number of six cylinder petrol vehicles in Warringah's fleet has decreased from 156 to 73 since July 2006 and the number of diesel vehicles increased from three to 58 over the same period.

The council aims to have all large petrol cars replaced by the end of next year.

“The number of heavy vehicles has decreased from 30 to 18 and older vehicles are being replaced with more environmentally friendly trucks,” he said.

Warringah Council also worked with staff and the community to reduce waste in the workplace with various education programs targeting businesses and schools.

“Separating waste for compost and recycling dramatically reduces what is going to landfill and educating the community means Warringah is one of the top recycling councils in the state,” he said.

The final component of the award was the purchasing of green products by staff.

“Council is trialling 100 per cent recycled Australian paper for printing, hand towels and toilet paper and replacing ammonia/bleached based cleaning products with biodegradable all purpose cleaners,” said Persson.