Every year The Echo asks the five local Councils what they are currently working on to be sustainable and this year the response has been phenomenal – too much to put on the page. Keep your eye on our website for the full stories in the coming weeks.
At the forefront of Ballina Shire Council’s sustainability efforts is its Climate Change Policy which sets organisational emissions reduction targets, and provides a framework for progressing climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience strategies for Council and the community.
Council’s corporate targets are more ambitious than the NSW and Australian governments and aim to: reduce its operational greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero emissions by 2030 and use 100 per cent renewable electricity for its operations by 2030.
This bold vision is underpinned by the recent adoption of the Council’s Corporate Emissions Reduction Plan (CERP) in May 2024. The CERP sets out the pathway to achieve the targets through short, medium, and long-term actions.
The key areas of emissions reduction opportunity in the short term are on-site solar and continued energy efficiency initiatives. New areas of focus include adding supply chain emissions to their emissions scope, for example, emissions for purchasing of products and services and capital works, and investigating carbon sequestration and offsetting strategies.
Innovative solar technologies
One of the most exciting aspects of Ballina Council’s approach is its embrace of innovative solar technologies. Council has already made significant strides in this area, generating 10 per cent of its electricity needs from on-site solar installations. A prime example of this is the use of the Australian-designed 5B Maverick solar system at two of its wastewater treatment plants.
This revolutionary technology, with its prefabricated, modular design is simply folded out and gives flexibility to the land use at the treatment plants with the ability to move it if the area is required for operations in the future.
Tree Planting Day
Each year, in collaboration with GeoLINK, Ballina Council organises the annual Lennox Head
Community Tree Planting Day, a testament to its unwavering commitment to biodiversity
conservation.
This event serves as a vibrant celebration of community spirit, bringing together residents young and old in a shared mission to restore and preserve natural habitats. By planting native seedlings, volunteers actively contribute to the regeneration of ecosystems on
the headland, ensuring a sustainable legacy for future generations.
This initiative proudly continues the remarkable legacy initiated by the Ballina Environmental Society in 1980. Since 2003, the local community has gathered at the iconic Lennox headland to participate in this meaningful endeavour, planting native seedlings of littoral rainforest species to revive the landscape to its pre-1800s state.
Great initiatives
Other great sustainability initiatives include reusing road construction material – when building new roads, the old road surfaces are profiled and this material is used to resheet
rural unsealed roads; the Biodiversity Strategy, including the Koala Habitat Restoration Small Grants Program; the Waste Management program where Council is continuously looking to support the community in making waste wise decisions and reducing waste sent to landfill.
Council has a variety resource recovery projects in the works for the 2024/25 financial year. Council is looking to invigorate and recognise community resource recovery efforts with its Resource Recovery Community Grants.
Up to $50,000 is available per annum for individuals or groups with a project or initiative to
improve community awareness and behaviour around waste minimisation and resource
recovery.
If you have an idea, they want to hear it! For assessment criteria and to apply visit:
ballina.nsw.gov.au/ResourceRecoveryGrant
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