The Goldfields town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is this year’s State Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Award winner.
It is the first time Kalgoorlie-Boulder has won the top prize in the 48-year history of Tidy Towns in Western Australia.
Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s Urban Landcare Group co-ordinated several of the major projects in the town including the Williamstown (East Kalgoorlie) cactus eradication project – an interagency collaboration to remove a staggering 750 tonnes of invasive cactus plants from the area.
The town installed a 120kW solar photovoltaic system at Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s airport – adding to the 80kW solar system recently installed on the roof of the Goldfields Arts Centre.
Kalgoorlie-Boulder also carried out a successful bin tagging trial – marking recycling bins with incorrect contents and providing follow up advice to householders. The trial almost halved the number of non-recyclable items in the community’s recycling bins.
The Community Action and Wellbeing Category award also went to Kalgoorlie-Boulder for its Heartwalk public art project. Twenty large scale murals by local and professional artists were painted throughout the town in a bid to revitalise the central business district.
The Tidy Towns’ category winners are:
- Young Legends – Waroona;
- Environmental Sustainability – Margaret River;
- Litter Prevention and Waste Management – Nannup;
- Environmental Education – Preston Beach;
- Heritage and Culture – Southern Cross;
- Community Action and Wellbeing – Kalgoorlie-Boulder; and
- General Appearance – Yalgoo.