One of Victoria’s rarest birds has a new lease on life, thanks to the work of credit union mecu Limited. The first credit union in the world to sign on to the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative, mecu Limited is on a mission to offset the carbon emitted as a result of its lending operations. Its GoGreen car loans offer a lower interest rate for greener vehicles, while home loans offer special repayment provisions for borrowers installing features such as rainwater tanks and solar panels. mecu Limited also recently bought a property in Victoria’s Wimmera region, containing prime conservation habitat for the South-Eastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, best known as the Commonwealth Games mascot, Karak. This 201-hectare piece of land allows mecu Limited to offer a Biodiversity Offset on home loans for new buildings: if any land is cleared for construction, mecu Limited re-plants an equivalent area.

In April last year, leading property group Lend Lease unveiled its flagship green building, The Gauge, at 825 Bourke Street, Victoria Harbour (Docklands). It is among Australia’s first buildings to receive a 6-star environmental rating by the Green Building Council of Australia. It features a blackwater recycling treatment plant in the basement which recycles 92 per cent of waste water per year, an on-site gas-fired co-generation system that harnesses waste heat, redirected stormwater to irrigate landscaped areas, chilled beam cooling, parking for cyclists, and two atriums to buffer against heat. Internationally, Lend Lease has signed on to a program with Bill Clinton’s Climate Change Initiative, to make environmentally-friendly modifications to existing buildings in its portfolio. And this year it was included for the first time in the prestigious Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable companies.

These days, water authorities are faced with an array of new technologies when they seek to replace infrastructure or plan new connections, but the best choices and combinations aren’t always obvious. Getting it right is increasingly critical due to ongoing drought, pressure on supply from urban expansion and concern about greenhouse emissions used in pumping water. In 2006, Yarra Valley Water began a research project with RMIT University and CSIRO on water and sewerage servicing for new developments. The research compared alternative servicing options such as recycled water, rainwater tanks and greywater recycling, with traditional centralised servicing. It found alternative servicing options can produce better environmental outcomes, such as reductions in greenhouse emissions, nutrients and stormwater run-off and lower community costs than traditional options. In 2008, the project won an International Water Association prize for research excellence.

In 2002, when Brent Papadopoulos started Sustainable Plumbing Solutions, people would say to him there was no market in rainwater tanks, greywater systems and solar hot water. Now the company is a leading designer and installer of water-saving technology, and in 2007, Papadopoulos was named Green Plumber of the Year. The company worked on ‘Solar Systems’ research and development plant at Bridgewater, near Bendigo, a showcase for new solar-hydrogen technology. Rainwater is captured from the roofs and used for drinking, hot water supply, and some cold water supply; greywater is recycled and used for flushing, washing machines and irrigation; and surface water is captured in a swale system and diverted to a cooling pond.

Frogs and turtles roaming the school grounds, a wetland, a dry forest, a vegie patch – it sounds like Eden off the Nepean Highway. But there’s serious learning to be done at Bentleigh West Primary School, and a lot of it revolves around the environment. The school has a full-time environmental science coordinator, and educates other schools and community groups wanting to make their mark. Every year, it holds a sustainability expo, in which pupils from grades 1 and 2 run a restaurant using produce from the vegie patch and eggs from the chooks, and grades 5 and 6 shoot and edit TV programs on environmental issues. The school’s buildings boast passive heating and cooling, ceiling fans, solar panels, water tanks, worm farms and recycling. Not surprisingly, this is the second consecutive year Bentleigh West Primary School has made the awards’ shortlist.

Davey Water Products has built an enviable reputation over the course of its 73 year history of manufacturing high-grade rainwater pumps, filtration and water treatment equipment. Its reputation for quality water products, and environmental ethos, has been transferred to how the company uses water and other resources in its manufacturing operations. Davey has reduced potable water use by 50 per cent, or one million litres per year; reduced waste by 82 per cent by volume and 42 per cent by weight or 3,420m3 per year. As a result of these savings, the company is 30 per cent more efficient, using fewer resources to produce even better quality pumps, filtration systems and water products.

Williamstown High School’s new $11 million Bayview Street campus development has demonstrated that Victorian public schools can be sustainable and inspiring. The campus is built to best practice environmental design principles and on a tight budget. All buildings at the Bayview Street Campus are naturally ventilated, designed to efficiently purge hot air in the summer months. The site features; recycled brick veneer walls, high-performance single glazing, hollow core concrete plank construction, rainwater collection that is used for toilet flushing and irrigation, solar hot water, recycling of existing materials and low energy light fittings. An integrated energy monitoring system has been installed displaying water, gas and electricity consumption on screens around the school. Students are able to compare their usage on a daily basis and between other facilities.

Etiko Fair Trade is a small Victorian business with a progressive business model and a bright future. Its primary focus is the sale of sports balls, footwear and clothing with a key difference – products are sourced from manufacturers who are certified Fairtrade or certified Sweatshop free, and from worker and farmer-owned co-operatives. The company’s clothing range is certified organic and fairtrade cotton, while the rubber used in the sports balls and footwear is the first non-paper, non-timber product that has been certified to the global Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standard. Etiko is constantly striving to reduce the ecological footprint of its products and is working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders to educate the community about the importance of sustainable living and workers rights.