Waste reduction winner

The initiative to reduce its own litter is why the Deniliquin Golf Club is this year’s recipient of Edward River Council’s Bill Hermiston Memorial Landcare and Environmental Citizen Award.

The initiative was born out of discussions held between club members Ross Pogonoski and Felicity McCalman.

Felicity said it was was centred around effectively using the Return and Earn facilities provided in Deniliquin.

‘‘We started thinking that there’s probably a lot of waste that goes through the golf club that could instead be helping us to earn additional income.

‘‘The big winner, however, is that we have significantly reduced the club’s waste costs.

‘‘We used to hire two bins each fortnight, and new we only have to hire one — so it’s been a cost saving mechanism as well.

‘‘What started between two members has grown, and everyone has embraced it.

‘‘Ross still does a lot of the collecting on the course, and we’ve upgraded all the waste facilities at the club.

‘‘We are educating our golfers and visitors to triage the rubbish at the club.

‘‘It really was quite astonishing to discover just how much of our waste could be recycled.’’.

The award was created to remember Bill Hermiston, a former Conargo Shire Councillor, who died in 2013.

Mr Hermiston was a tireless worker promoting the need to improve the natural diversity of flora and fauna within council and other landcare groups.

Natural diversity was a project he was passionate about and heavily involved in for many years.