It's official! Frankston is Australia's most sustainable city. Last night, our beautiful bayside city was named the overall winner of the Keep Australia Beautiful, Australian Sustainable Cities Awards, held in Sydney.

The Award recognises Frankton's commitment and investment in a wide range of environmental sustainability initiatives and its support of local community projects.

Frankston City Council's submission focused on the development of the Frankston 2025 Community Vision, a long-term strategy vision for a sustainable future; Halve Garbage Waste, which encouraged residents to reduce waste sent to landfill; work in weed management; Local Industry Efficiency Program encouraging businesses to adopt environmentally sustainable work practices; and Adopt a Baby Street Tree program.

Sustainability initiatives at Frankston's local schools, including Carrum Downs Secondary College - winner of the national Young Legends Award - also played their part in claiming the title for Frankston.

And Frankston's Leon Costermans was also honoured with the Dame Phyllis Frost Award, named after the founder of Keep Australia Beautiful, for his outstanding individual contribution to the environment and the community.

Frankston City Mayor Alistair Wardle said the community should be extremely proud of the award. "Without the help and dedication of residents, including volunteers, friends groups and local schools, we couldn't have achieved this," he said.

In addition to winning the overall title, Frankston also picked up the national Resource Recovery Award for Halve Garbage Waste, and was highly commended in the Water Conservation and Community Partnership categories.

According to the Australian Sustainable Cities Judge, Sean Rooney, who is also Director of the CSIRO Sustainable Communities Initiative, Frankston's efforts deliver on all key principals behind the Sustainable Cities Awards.

"Frankston City Council has a long term vision when planning for a sustainable future. The Frankston 2025 community visioning project, in particular, is the driving force for social, environmental and economic sustainability. Following extensive community consultation, it now guides Council's activities and decisions," he said.

"Frankston has set targets and undertaken projects to reduce water usage by 45% over the next 10 years, whilst the diversion of waste from landfill is another key priority. A great example is the, 'If you don't eat it, your garden will - Halve Garbage Waste!' program, which has significantly reduced organic matter going into the waste stream. Weekly rubbish bin collections are now reduced to fortnightly for the 1,000 participating homes."

The Australian Sustainable City Award, caps off a successful year for Frankston, named Victoria's most sustainable city at Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria, Sustainable Cities Award in June, and runner up in the 2007 Keep Australia Beautiful Clean Beach Award, after Frankston Beach was named Victoria's Overall Cleanest Beach in May 2007.

Media Contact:
Silvia Van Orsouw: 9784 1005; 0408 580 114; or silvia.vanorsouw@frankston.vic.gov.au Paul Kennedy: 9784 1812; 0408 148 508; or paul.kennedy@frankston.vic.gov.au