Delungra received a Highly Commended award at this year’s Tidy Towns Sustainable Comm-unities Awards Weekend in Tamworth.

Delungra received Highly Commended in the Packaging Stewardship Forum Waste Management and Litter Reduction Award in population category A (up to 350 people).

The Delungra Waste Depot is run by the Delungra District Development Corporation which is made up of a number of community volunteers.

The community have a volunteering roster where the individuals manage the town waste depot and Inverell Shire Council pays the volunteers for their hours.

The money is then donated to other community development and environment projects. A bobcat was also donated to the community from an individual which is used by the community to organise the scrap metal and green matter for recycling.

Daniel Barber, Tidy Towns Assessor was impressed with the volunteer spirit of the town.

“The dynamic groups of people who work together in promoting waste management range from girl guides to work for the dole participants. I thought it was truly amazing that people volunteer to work on the waste depot,” he said.

Jenny Pickles, General Manager of the Packaging Stewardship Forum (PSF) of the Australian Food and Grocery Council and sponsor of the Waste Management and Litter Award is proud of the partnership the PSF has built with the Tidy Towns-Sustainable Communities Program.

“We have been working with many of the communities who have nominated for this award through our Do the Right Thing signage support program and know how hard these groups work to improve environments in their towns. It’s great to see their hard work recognised.”

Peter McLean, Chief Executive Officer of Keep Australia Beautiful NSW said the Awards Weekend in Tamworth was a great success.

“It was a fantastic opportunity to recognise those who achieve positive results for their local environment and community.”

© 2009 Inverell Times

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