A Celebration of Businesses Sustainable Practices.
On Friday 1st November over 80 people gathered at the Tai Tapu Community Centre to celebrate prize winners, receive certificates, and hear citations regarding the excellent work of all the businesses who participated in the 2024 Selwyn Responsible Business Awards.
The proceedings started by thanking the supporters of the project largely financed by Selwyn District Council Waste Management. Lincoln New World sponsored much of the food and Rossendale wines did the same for the wine all prepared by volunteers from Selwyn Lions. The major thanks of the evening were to the 62 participating enterprises for their initiatives surrounding the environmental impacts and the community involvement associated with their activities.
The awards are seen as a way of encouraging businesses to think sustainably, reward and celebrate their endeavours and the process is very much geared towards discussions of the issues associated with trying to be as environmentally sustainable as possible and how to benefit the wider community.
The event itself was most enjoyable. Councillor Sophie McInnes presented the certificates and trophies to the many participating businesses who attended, and the assessors’ citations made clear the commendable work being done.
The evening was enhanced by two excellent guest speaker presentations; Frank Haakart told us of the journey to restore the earthquake damaged pub in Hororata and establish the “Artists In” project of converting the building into a rural place of art learning and exhibition.
Wim de Koning from Lincoln University outlined the exciting plans for the Solar Farm in Lincoln and we at Lincoln Envirotown look forward to joining the University in community engagement as this Lincoln asset grows.
Selwyn Responsible Business Network Welcomes New Coordinator
and is looking forward to an exciting 2024.
We have recently been privileged to make the appointment of Maree Hamilton to the position of Selwyn Responsible Network Coordinator. Maree has recently returned from Europe and brings extensive experience from working on large business sustainability projects there. Maree has already begun engaging with local businesses and is looking forward to continued dialogue with the business community regarding their environmental and community initiatives.
The Selwyn Responsible Business Network aims to provide supportive contact with Selwyn’s businesses. Through discussion, sharing of best practices, initiatives and experiences we can enhance environmental sustainability and community resilience. As public awareness of these issues continues to grow we look forward to informing people about the excellent work being done by our local businesses.
2024 is a Selwyn Responsible Business Awards Year and we look forward to celebrating the endeavors of local organisations in environmental stewardship and community engagement.
These awards are held every two years. In 2022 the awards showcased around 80 enterprises.
“The Awards process is very straightforward with a visit and a chat rather than any form filling” explains Maree. “We hope many businesses will take the opportunity to share their achievements and be recognised for their sustainability commitments.”
The network is excited to collaborate and celebrate with Selwyn’s business community on building a more sustainable, resilient future.
To learn more about the Selwyn Responsible Business Network or the 2024 Awards contact Maree Hamilton.
Is your business looking at how to be more socially and environmentally responsible? Join the Selwyn Responsible Business Network to discuss your business sustainability goals and challenges.
Date: Wednesday, April 17th Time: 5:00 pm
Location: Te Ara Atea, Rolleston
Event Agenda:
5:00 pm: Refreshments
5:15 pm: Presentation and Workshop/Discussion
6:15 pm (approx): Conclusion
Please register at the link below to secure your spot.
We would again like to thank all the businesses and schools that participated in the Selwyn Responsible Business Awards 2022 along with our supporters that made it possible. There was a tremendous response this year and we hope that the many people who were able to attend the Awards Evening enjoyed the occasion. We certainly enjoyed the celebratory atmosphere and the citations delivered by our Assessors to each certificate recipient showed that there are great efforts being made to conduct business activity with the Environment and Community in mind. We heard about many excellent initiatives. All are to be congratulated. The area and overall winners are listed below along with all the organisations that took part this year.
In the forthcoming year we do not run the Awards but we operate a Responsible Business Network which we hope people will join. This is not intended to be a time consuming activity but simply a way of businesses, as they have time, sharing and receiving information largely on media and discussing activities and initiatives. There will be a few get-together’s with guest speakers for those interested.
It was a pleasure to hear from Tony from Loxley Innovation Ltd.The advancement of electric tractor technology is a fascinating topic and we certainly hope Tony and Duncan find success with their business.
Anyone wishing to get in contact with Loxley to further support or discuss their endeavors can find more about them here. Spread the word!
It was also a pleasure to hear from John Veix who has been busy planning the Selwyn Sustainability Expo which takes place in Rolleston in January 21st and 22nd 2023.John also supplied a gift of native plants to the award attendees, which was very much appreciated.
Thanks to Our Sponsors
Selwyn District Council, the Rata Foundation and Lincoln University are greatly appreciated as long term supporters. Many thanks also to Councillor Nicole Reid who presented the certificates and trophies.
This project also relied on specific supporters; The Waste Management Department of Selwyn District Council separately support the work of our Assessors and survey development which enables us to visit widely scattered businesses and make for a thorough and thoroughly enjoyable process; Lincoln New World enabled us to provide a great spread of food and some of the refreshments and Rossendale Winery supplied the wine; all of this support is at an extremely generous level.
And finally… Congratulations to our winners!
The OVERALL WINNER is….
A Little R & R Massage Therapy! Well done Thea, and thank you for such an exemplary model of how to care for your clients, your planet and your local community!
The area winners are….
Ellesmere: Fires N Things Runner up: Straight 8 Estate
The last two years have been challenging for many, and we wish to provide a friendly and comfortable space to discuss how we can become more connected, more resilient, and more in tune with what our community and environment needs to thrive.
We’ll explore what community resilience could look like in Selwyn / Waikirikiri, and how local businesses can contribute to these changes. A range of speakers will give short presentations on different issues including addressing environmental change, shifting towards regenerative agriculture, bringing biodiversity back, reducing building waste, and improving our education system.
There will be time for questions after each presentation, with a panel discussion at the end and refreshments throughout!
This event is being run by the Responsible Business Network with support from the Selwyn District Council, tickets are limited, subject to Level 2 restrictions. Any enquiries please contact Siana Fitzjohn at rbacoordinator@gmail.com
We hope to see you there!
Melton Estate
Weedons Ross Road West Melton,7675New Zealand+ Google Map
We hosted a very successful meeting of businesses who have shown an interest in a Selwyn Responsible Business Network in Rolleston on the last day of October.
People from local businesses were invited to a social occasion and treated to two high calibre presentations which examined concepts of sustainable practices relating to Power Use and Waste Management. Many of the ideas discussed looked at the cost cutting possibilities that result from adopting more sustainable practices, while others emphasised general environmental concerns.
Richard Briggs the Programme Partnership Manager of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) surprised the audience with the statistic that businesses typically waste up to 20% of the energy they use; most solutions to this problem are low or no cost solutions which look to making current processes more efficient before looking at any replacement of infrastructure.
He strongly suggested that businesses should start looking at the possibilities of making savings by undertaking an energy audit to really assess how much power is being used and where. Details of funding bodies that could help with long term solutions were also shared.
The second presentation by Andrew Boyd the Waste and Recycling Manager at Selwyn District Council gave some real insight into the recycling situation around the world and its impact on Selwyn. He explained how the old model of using resources to produce the things we need, and then discarding them as waste, cannot be sustained.
The concept of the Circular Economy whereby resources are used in production and then reused was examined with numerous examples cited. Andrew also advised on good recycling habits and gave an insight into the difficulties of the processes.
The evening was an enjoyable occasion and people took plenty of useful information away with them.
We would like to thank the Selwyn District Council for supporting this initiative.
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