20-year milestone for green awards

The Council Chairman, David MacLeod, says the 20th anniversary of the awards is a time to reflect on the enormous contribution made by recipients and others over the past two decades.

“Taranaki has a generally excellent environment, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” he says. “The awards remind us again that this is not an accident – it is the result of hard work in the community. It’s good to celebrate that work and hold it up as an example.”

Today’s 12 awards bring the total to 189 since they were inaugurated in 1993 – including 77 in the Individual/School/Community category, 61 in the Agriculture category and 51 in the Business/Local Authority category.

The Council’s annual awards recognise Taranaki projects or activities that contribute to or raise awareness of sustainable resource management, that are economically viable, and that are current or nearing completion.

Business/Local Authority

Contact Energy Ltd – for good environmental performance during construction and commissioning of Stratford Peaker Plant.

The plant opened in May 2011 after two and a half years of site preparation, construction and commissioning during which no environmental incidents were recorded. The plant’s two high-efficiency gas turbines have a highly flexible load output and nitrogen oxide emissions are low.

Methanex NZ Ltd – for adoption of on-site sewage treatment at the Waitara Valley Plant.

The installation of this plant, which treats effluent for discharge to land, allowed Methanex to surrender its resource consent to discharge treated wastewater through the Waitara marine outfall. This would have been the only ongoing discharge from the Waitara outfall after the completion of NPDC’s current project to divert the town’s municipal wastewater to the New Plymouth treatment plant.

South Taranaki District Council – for improving the health of the Mangawhero Stream by diverting Eltham wastewater

This $10.4 million project, which also included upgrades of the Eltham and Hawera wastewater treatment plants, addressed the last point-source discharge causing significant pollution of fresh water in the region. Since the diversion of treated Eltham wastewater, the Mangawhero Stream and the mid to lower reaches of the Waingongoro River have shown marked improvement in water quality.

Plasback New Zealand – for recovering used farm plastics for recycling

An estimated 44 tonnes of farm plastic was collected in Taranaki in 2011 through the Plasback recycling and re-use programme, which provides farmers with an easy and safe system to dispose of material that could otherwise cause environmental problems by being burned or buried on farms or sent to landfill. The programme has operated in New Zealand for six years and there are three collectors in Taranaki – Moratti Contracting, Inglewood; Riverlea Contracting, Kaponga; and Hinton Contracting, Stratford.

Agrecovery Rural Recycling Programme – for recovering unwanted agrichemicals and used farm plastics for recycling

The Agrecovery programme, established in 2006, provides an easy and safe system for farmers to dispose of chemicals and plastics that could cause environmental problems if disposed of on farms or in landfills. Taranaki’s four free collection sites for chemical containers are Coastal Wrapping Ltd, Okato; Elders, Hawera; Rick Coplestone Groundspray, Stratford; and the Waitara Transfer Station. In the two and a half years after it opened in August 2009, the Stratford site collected 2,362 containers for recycling.

Agricultural

BMW Farms – for riparian management and sustainable farming

The BMW Farm partners – Mark and Anne Bridges, Darrel and Amy Weston, and Graham Mourie – have achieved strong results in a short timeframe by programming their riparian work into farm budgets and engaging a contractor to do the work. All 8km of the farm’s streambank are fenced to exclude stock from waterways, and they have completed 83% of their Riparian Management Plan planting. They have also covenanted a 2.6ha block of bush.

Geoffrey and Polly Otterson – for riparian management and environmental enhancement

Since 2007, Geoffrey and Polly have fenced all 2.3km of streambank and planted 1.7km , to protect the tributaries of the Toko Stream that flow through their Toko drystock farm. The remaining 480 metres of riparian planting is scheduled for completion over the next three years.

Bruce Roberts and Nicola Murphy – for sustainable land management of Longreach Station

Since starting work in 2009 on implementing recommendations in their Taranaki Regional Council farm plan, Bruce and Nicola have, planted 54.3ha of exotic forestry, retired 49.7ha for native regeneration and erected 5.4km of fencing to protect erosion-prone land. They have embraced opportunities offered by the Afforestation Grant Scheme, the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative and the Council’s South Taranaki Regional Erosion Support Scheme (STRESS).

Individual/School/Community

Kahikatea Kindergarten – for environmental education and action

This kindergarten has a strong focus on sustainability and its children and community have been involved in activities including:

• A sustainability audit of the kindergarten
• Learning to sort rubbish.
• The use of recycling and composting systems, and a worm farm.
• Wrap-free lunch boxes.
• Gardening projects.
• Saving water and power, and improving energy efficiency

Moturoa Primary School – for environmental education and action

This is the school’s third Taranaki Regional Council Environmental Award since 1998, reflecting a strong and long-lasting commitment to environmental education. All students are involved in environmental activities, most notably a large native-plant propagation unit. Moturoa was the region’s first EnviroSchool and the first to join the Trees for Survival programme. Recycling is well established and the children also grow, harvest and cook fruit and vegetables at the school.

Mimi School – for environmental education and action

The school has worked with the local community, Puke Ariki, the Taranaki Regional Council, Department of Conservation and Rural Women to learn about blue penguins and to protect the colony at Wai-iti beach, which could be the largest in Taranaki, including construction of nesting boxes, laying traps for predators, educating beach users and offering guided tours to raise awareness. Other environmental education activities include riparian planting on nearby farms, recycling, and composting.

St Joseph’s School, Opunake – for environmental education and action

St Joseph’s strong commitment to environmental education includes recycling and composting systems, garden projects and involvement with the Trees for Survival programme. Native species grown in the school’s propagation unit are used in local projects such as Opunake Beach and Sandy Bay. Students have also produced penguin boxes and learnt about the conservation of local resources through the Puke Ariki 60 Springs Programme.

Note: School awards will be presented at the schools in coming weeks. Presentations to other winners were made at Stratford today.