Introduced in 2024, the City's Green Award recognises local action on the elimination of waste and improved sustainable practices.
Open to schools and community groups, local businesses and individuals, there are many ways our community are supporting positive environmental change.
2026 Green Award
Check out the 2026 winning projects from Roast Express and Charthouse Primary School below.
Local business Roast Express are diverting their food scraps each week, through collaboration with local community garden, Naragebup (Rockingham Regional Environmental Centre).
Their winning project supports efforts to care for our environment and keep valuable resources out of landfill. By diverting approximately 70 kg of food scraps weekly, turning valuable resources into a garden additive to support growing fruit and vegetables. Over the course of a year, this diversion is over 3 tonnes of material, that is the equivalent of a large SUV.
Their efforts have shown how simple actions can have a large impact.
At Charthouse Primary School, their P&C, student councillors, staff and community are taking action in many ways to recycle, compost and teach each other about sustainability and more.
A key achievement over the last year for the school is the collection of 25,000 10c containers through Containers for Change – supporting the purchasing of new playground equipment.
Other waste reduction and environmental focuses include:
- Composting food scraps from the canteen into composting bins, worm farms and for feeding their four chickens.
- Community garden for students to learn to grow produce.
- Recycling paper around classrooms.
- Second hand uniform sales.
- Rocky’s shed using recycled timber and materials to teach life skills.
2025 Green Award
Awarded for their CLEAN Initiative, the Year 12 Executive team wanted to reduce litter and inspire everyone to take responsibility for keeping their community clean. They introduced a Bin Brigade: 48 student leaders collecting litter across school grounds in their colourful branded capes.
This student-led movement has resulted in 239 buckets of litter collected since the start of 2025, weighing 69kg.
They even created a fun video to showcase the initiative.
When we spoke with the Year 12 Executive student leaders, they shared their thoughts on leading and delivering the program:
What inspired the CLEAN Initiative?
"Unfortunately, litter had been an ongoing problem at our school for a few years and we tried for many years to get positive messages out… ultimately what made this initiative so successful was the fun vibe and positive branding."
"Measuring it as well keeps everyone motivated, like we are making a difference."
What was your favourite part of the Initiative?
"I think having Year 7 to 12 involved, every single leader, every lunch time getting to know them was really enjoyable."
How has being part of this Initiative increased your understanding of sustainable practices?
“It’s not one big change, it's consistent actions.”
Why is it important to care about the environment?
“It’s our home. Especially living in a coastal city like Rockingham, it's terrible to think about the sort of rubbish that ends up in the ocean. You see rubbish building up along our fence line… its blowing from all parts of the school and you think on a much bigger scale in Rockingham… it’s not just our home but the penguin’s home, the marine environment's home, it’s so relevant for where we live.”
Following the CLEAN Initiative, students engaged Years 7 to 12 in a school competition to design bin stickers. With four stickers already installed (as shown below), more are planned to be placed around the school, keeping strong visual messaging front of mind for students.
In December 2024, the Native Plants WA community nursery transitioned from single-use plastic bulka bags to a concrete soil bay.
Looking for a cleaner, low-waste solution that also met nursery hygiene standards, the opportunity to build a soil bay emerged. Kindly donated and constructed by an external company, this new solution eliminates the need to buy potting mix in plastic bags.
Previously, the nursery used around 40 cubic metres of soil each year, resulting in up to 40 single-use bags being discarded annually. While volunteers reused the bags for storage to extend their life, they would eventually break down.
It’s expected the nursery will save around 130 kg of plastic from landfill each year. This simple change demonstrates how small shifts can make a meaningful impact in reducing waste.
Kolbe Catholic College 2025 Schools Winner
The Year 12 Executive team demonstrating leadership creating a CLEAN Initiative which including a number of activities such as the ‘Bin Brigade’, bringing 48 student leaders together to reduce litter.
Native Plants WA 2025 Green Award Community Group Winner
Native Plants WA won the 2025 Community Group Award for replacing single‑use bulka bags with a concrete soil bay, saving around 130 kg of plastic from landfill each year.
