Fabulous finalists from every sector from all over Victoria have just been announced … see their inspiring stories here ...

1. Congratulations tothe 2018 finalistsVictorianPremier’s Sustainability Awards
Sustainability Victoria has announced finalists in the 2018 Premier's Sustainability Awards. With
more entries than ever before in the Awards history, this year's finalists by category, are:
Built Environment
City of Greater Bendigo, Lovell Chen and Nicholson Construction – 'Bendigo Soldiers'
Memorial Institute Passive House. An addition to a heritage-listed building that houses the
Soldiers Memorial Institute is expected to be the first government building in Australia built to
Passive House standards – the world’s leading standard in energy efficient construction.
Lendlease, CPB, LXRA, WSP, Aurecon and MTM – Caulfield to Dandenong Level Crossing
Removal Project. A massive program to ease traffic congestion on Melbourne roads through
the removal of rail crossings is also providing greenfields linear parkland to local communities.
RMIT – Sustainable Urban Precincts Program (SUPP). The Sustainable Urban Precincts Program
(SUPP) was conceived in 2008 by RMIT as a vehicle to reduce its emissions using sustainable
built environment practices. At completion in 2017, RMIT was on track to achieve annual
emissions savings of 39 per cent.
Community
Enable Social Enterprises – Expansion - Greener Futures Employability Program. Enable is a
social enterprise with a vision for a socially, environmentally and economically connected
community without disadvantage. During 2017, Enable created 1,741 paid work hours through
an e-waste enterprise, supporting disadvantaged workers whilst diverting 53.2 tonnes of e-
waste from landfill.
Kelly Mrocki – The Girl Who Saved the Frogs Incursion. An incursion for Early Childhood
Education Services, run by Early Childhood Co-Educator and Author/Illustrator Kelly Mrocki
provides hands-on experiences such as sorting waste, cleaning water, making homemade
cleaning sprays and planting seeds.
Kensington Compost. Kensington Compost started in 2016 when a resident posted on a
community Facebook page, asking where they could dispose kitchen scraps to prevent them
going to landfill. Fifteen drop off points were soon established, all maintained by volunteers. In
2017, the group had more than 150 households regularly use the communal drop off points and
composted over 18 tonnes of food waste.
Education
Albert Park Pre-School – Keeping OurPromise to Bunjil. Albert Park Pre-School celebrates a
shared vision with the local Boon Wurrung people to keep a promise to Bunjil, an Indigenous
creator deity, to take care of the children and the land
Beeac Primary School – Brolga Pathways. Beeac Primary School worked with environmental
artist Peter Day to deliver the Brolga Pathways Project, an arts meets ecology program
designed to educate students and the wider community about the brolga's fragile ecosystem.

2. Dunkeld Kindergarten – Educating Future World Leaders. Dunkeld Kindergarten want their
children to have time to be in nature, to explore, to enjoy and to build a stronger connection to
their local place and actively choose to take care of it. It is the first Early Learning Centre in
Victoria to achieve recognition as a 5 Star ResourceSmart School.
Environmental Justice
Department of Health and Human Services – Elenara Rooming House. A rooming house
upgrade in St Kilda has improved the model of care for people at risk of homelessness, while
reducing environmental injustice to climate change impacts and rising energy costs.
GWMWater (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water Corporation) – Memorandum of
Understanding with Dja Dja Wurrung - South West Loddon Pipeline. In 2016 GWMWater
received permission to develop the 1,300 kilometre South West Loddon Pipeline. Large portions
of the pipeline would cut through the Country of the Dja Dja Wurrung clans. The resulting MOU
has laid the foundation for a cooperative partnership that will continue to benefit both parties
into the future.
Moreland City Council and Moreland Energy Foundation – Cooling Communities. Moreland
Energy Foundation and Moreland City Council undertook the Cooling Communities project to
help mitigate Urban Heat Island Effect impacts on social housing residents – people who are
particularly at risk from heat stress.
Environmental Protection
Extreme Dents – Eco-friendly Automotive IQpod. An innovative vehicle damage repair centre
pioneered by automotive repairer Extreme Dents filters ozone forming Volatile Organic
Compounds (VOCs), ensuring zero emissions.
Yume Food - Build a Marketplace Exclusively for Surplus Food to Reduce Food Waste. Yume is
a wholesale online marketplace for surplus food that reduces wastage and landfill impacts
while providing a wide variety of discounted food products to consumers. The result means
good food is enjoyed by more consumers at cheaper prices while saving hundreds of thousands
of kilograms of product going to landfill.
Zoos Victoria and Phillip Island Nature Parks – When Balloons Fly. The campaign encourages
the use of bubbles to replace balloons at outdoor events, reducing plastic pollution and saving
marine life.
Government
City of Melbourne, City of Port Phillip, City of Yarra, City of Moreland – Melbourne
Renewable Energy Project. The Melbourne Renewable Energy Project (MREP) marks the first
time in Australia that a group of local governments, cultural institutions, universities and
corporations have collectively purchased renewable energy from a newly built facility at
Crowlands Wind Farm near Ararat.
Department of Justice and Regulation – Recycle, Reuse, Donate Woodwork
Program. TheRecycle, Reuse, Donate Woodwork Program was established as an
environmentally sustainable project that contributes to waste avoidance, while teaching
offenders serving Community Correction Orders valuable new skills and creating an avenue for
them to give back to the local community.

3. Gannawarra Shire Council – Gannawarra Large Scale Solar. The Gannawarra Shire has taken a
strategic approach to identifying future directions for the local economy around the platforms
of nature based tourism, renewable energy and innovative agriculture. A key project is
Gannawarra Shire’s first large scale solar farm and battery storage in Victoria.
Health
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Victorian Branch – Nursing for the
Environment. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Victorian Branch has developed
a two day course for nurses and midwives, Nursing for the Environment, which emphasises how
sustainability fits in with their scope of practice.
Beaconsfield Dental Health – Beaconsfield Dental. A mixed dental practice that prioritises
sustainability in a range of ways. In 2017, 126 solar panels saved approximately 10 tonnes of
CO2. Water tanks have 17,000 litre capacity and supply the indigenous garden and toilet flush,
saving over 40,000 litres of water per year. Patients are encouraged to bring in their old
toothbrushes, empty toothpaste and floss containers that are then recycled by Colgate.
Western Health - Changing Anaesthetic Gases at Western Health. The gases used as
anaesthetics have similar clinical effects and can be interchanged, although each has a
markedly different global warming potential. This program helped convert anaesthetists’ choice
of anaesthetic agent from desflurane and nitrous oxide to sevoflurane and propofol where
clinically possible, to reduce greenhouse impacts and achieve financial savings.
Innovative Products or Services
A.BCH – Whole Garment Design. Independent fashion label A.BCH is creating aesthetically
desirable fashion garments from responsibly sourced fibres, threads and components and
ethical supply chains. Founded on a desire to transform the way people buy, wear and dispose
of clothing, A.BCH provides full disclosure as to how each of their garments came to be, while
garment life is extended via their Care, Repair, Wear program.
PonyUp for Good – PonyUp for Good. A social enterprise that rescues technology waste and
uses its residual value to provide meals through SecondBite to needy individuals and families,
and gives access to secondhand technology for those unable to afford it new.This unique
business has so far collected 30,669 kilos of waste technology.
Yume Food – Build a Marketplace Exclusively for Surplus Food to Reduce Food Waste. This
year in Australia, 9.5 million tonnes of food will go to waste. The Yume online marketplace for
surplus food is reducing wastage and landfill impacts while providing discounted food products
to consumers and food donations to recuse organisations.
Large Business
IKEA Richmond – IKEA Richmond Refurbishment Project. A major refurbishment of the IKEA
Richmond outlet has been achieved using key sustainability and energy saving principles. The
rebuilding of the showroom, the installation of a cafe and improvements in store navigation
involved recycling of approximately 85 per cent of all construction materials.
Telstra Corporation – Murra Warra Wind Farm harnessing long-term renewable energy
supply. A new renewable energy purchasing power agreement by a Telstra-led consortium will
reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia by about 900,000 tonnes per year. The

4. agreement covers the 226 megawatt (MW) first stage of the Murra Warra Wind Farm near
Horsham in western Victoria.
Small and Medium Sized Business
Compost Revolution – Revolution Apps. Compost Revolution is an online community education
and logistics platform designed to scale household organics recovery. It provides residents with
composting, worm farming and bokashi fermentation skills and access to subsidised equipment,
delivering products to their door on behalf of councils.
Extreme Dents – Eco-friendly Automotive IQpod. An innovative vehicle damage repair centre
pioneered by repairer business Extreme Dents filters ozone forming Volatile Organic
Compounds that contribute to ozone formation, ensuring zero emissions.
Yume Food – Build a Marketplace Exclusively for Surplus Food to Reduce Food Waste. Yume
was established in 2014 to mitigate the amount of food that’s wasted in the commercial food
sector. Operating as an online marketplace, Yume solves the problem for suppliers who often
have surplus food due to cancelled orders or lack of storage space by allowing them to list
surplus food products on the Yume platform to reach a large and growing network of potential
buyers.
The Premier’s Sustainability Awards are the highest profile program of their kind in Victoria.
All finalists will be invited to the Awards ceremony in Melbourne on Thursday 11 October.
The Premier will also personally select two overall winners of the Premier’s Regional
Recognition Award and the Premier’s Recognition Award, to be announced on the night.
For more information, photos and profiles of all finalists, go
to www.sustainabilityawards.vic.gov.au