Eco awards for university

THE University of the Sunshine Coast has earned two gongs for their eco-initiatives at the 2016 Queensland Premier’s Sustainability Awards.
Held earlier this month, the USC was recognised for innovative measures that have cut the consumption and cost of water and electricity and reduced waste on campus.
USC operations manager Dennis Frost, who attended the awards in Brisbane with USC sustainability officer Hailey Bolland, said the university was delighted to be recognised for implementing ideas that have saved $1.5 million in utility costs and more than 7000 tonnes in carbon emissions in the past three years.
USC was one of three finalists statewide in the Minister’s Award for Leadership in Sustainability alongside the Mater Misericordiae Ltd and the winner Mungalla Aboriginal Business Corporation.
USC was highly commended in the Innovation in Sustainable Technologies Award.
The report on USC in the Minister’s category cited its improved operations and culture of environmental responsibility, and its management of increasing energy, water and waste costs as a result of the expanding Sippy Downs campus.
It recognised USC as the first Australian university to install Onsite Composting Apparatus (OSCA) technology for waste, and the first Australian university to implement a lake water treatment system that met national standards for use in the Sports Stadium Pool, as well as re-using stormwater run-off in air-conditioning cooling towers.
USC also last year became the first Queensland university to implement a water refill program that removed the sale of plastic water bottles.