From the Lord Mayor's Office
We're environmental winners!
This week we started on a winning note with news Wollongong City Council collected two Keep Australia Beautiful Awards at an event on Bathurst last weekend.
Council won the Litter Prevention award for our Summer Cleansing program and the Communication & Engagement Award for Wollongong’s FOGO Heroes campaign. Both awards were in categories for a population of more than 23,000.
This is tremendous recognition for Council, our staff and our community from the 2024 NSW Tidy Towns event.
The awards are well deserved, and are two excellent examples of how Council is leading the industry in terms of looking after our environment.
The Litter Prevention award recognised Council’s innovative idea to attach 100 wire recycling cages to bins in popular public areas, particularly along our foreshore. These bins were used to collect any 10c refund bottles that are eligible for the Return and Earn program.
The idea had multiple benefits. They align with our focus on keeping recyclables out of landfill, and the baskets were a safer than people rummaging through bins to collect items for the Return and Earn program.
The FOGO heroes campaign, meanwhile, was launched in September 2023 as an initiative that celebrated the hidden heroes who live in our community.
In a series of case studies and videos, Council featured everyday people who were FOGO experts. The concept behind the campaign was to continue to build momentum and awareness behind FOGO.
If you’d like to read more about FOGO Heroes – or to learn more about FOGO in Wollongong, visit Council’s website.
