Ballina Shire Council
Ballina Shire Council is pleased to be building partnerships in delivering environmental and economic benefits to our community through the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) Australia program. We hope to deliver substantial savings in greenhouse gases across all sectors. We have already started to deliver these benefits corporately and are working with the community to make further gains.
General Manager
Actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Community
- Last Christmas, we ran the Santa Goes Green project in conjunction with Lismore City and Byron Shire Councils. Lakeview Circuit is a Christmas Light Up street and was targeted to be part of the project. Residents displayed the Santa Goes Green logo outside their home and Christmas Light Up displays for 6 weeks over the Christmas period. Council kept in touch with residents throughout the project, leaving them New Year's gifts of environmentally friendly dishwashing and laundry liquid and tips to save money. Follow up case studies were carried out and feedback from the project was very positive.
- Community barbecue where residents were asked to be involved in promoting a greenhouse friendly Christmas and New Year by displaying a Green Santa symbol outside their house.
- Free energy audits and free household plumbing tune-ups.
- Goody bags with LCD Christmas lights, bamboo takeaway plates and cutlery (to cut waste emissions) to all participants.
- Thermometers to check under or over-cooling in fridges and freezers.
- Timers for appliances and information on saving energy and water.
Travel
- Our "What does it cost - what the Environment pays for you to get where you're going" project has been investigating the greenhouse cost of travel within Ballina Shire.
- Council staff have undertaken tree planting to offset their travel-to-work emissions, and local schools undertook similar tree plantings for travel-to-school emissions.
- There is now a focus on public transport, pedestrian and cycleway linkages as well as carpooling to encourage more greenhouse friendly modes of travel.
Corporate
- Trialling LPG gas vehicles for use in Council's fleet. Our passenger fleet is made up of 60% LPG gas vehicles - 4-cylinder vehicles being included.
- A recent Australian Greenhouse Building Rating (AGBR) audit rated our Council building at 3 stars, which was reasonable for the age of the building.
- Council is also trialling a bike fleet for use by staff for short trips around Ballina Island .
Future greenhouse abatement actions
- An audit of streetlighting is one of the priority projects included in the Local Action Plan, and it is hoped that financial savings from this project will help to fund some of the other actions identified in the Local Action Plan.
- Council is also planning to implement leachate removal measures at the Waste Management Centre which will greatly reduce methane emissions from landfill. A waste baler has been purchased which packs waste more efficiently so that emissions are release more slowly.
More information
Contact: Suzanne Hayward/Matthew Wood
Web Address: www.ballina.nsw.gov.au
Updated: September 2007
CCP Facts
State: New South Wales
Date joined:
July 2004
Current Milestone:
Milestone 4
Santa Goes Green
Ballina Bike Fleet