- MORE TIDY TOWNS: Gloucester cleans up at Tidy Towns Awards
- One-on-one with: Ryan Yates
DRIFTA Camping and Kitchens took out the Sustainable Business award at the State Tidy Town Awards for 2015, for population categories A-C.
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Drifta impressed the NSW judge by its promotion and adaptation of sustainable power, water and waste initiatives, as well as the high recruitment of young local people as apprentices and trades people.
The judge was also impressed by the high level of partnerships between Drifta and other local organisations and groups, such as the Men’s Shed and Gloucester High School.
Drifta also promotes the Gloucester area by encouraging clients to visit Gloucester, working closely with the Visitor Information Centre.
The story behind the awards
Gloucester Shire Council always knew that they were in the running for the Tidy Towns Award because of their clear and conclusive plan.
The committee and the community worked hand-in-hand to produce a submission worthy of not only one, but six awards.
The judge for the National Awards for Tidy Towns is coming to Gloucester at the beginning of December.
The Tidy Towns Committee is asking that everyone makes the effort to clean around their house, garden and business.
Townspeople are being encouraged to pull together and make Gloucester the best it can be.
An interview with Luke Sutton of Drifta Camping Kitchens has revealed his deep-seated passion for sustainability, and inspection of the business site showed just how sensationally he backs up every word.
The five categories that satisfied Tidy Town judges are:
1. Sustainability –80,000 litres of rainwater is harvested and used on several tree lots, one centrally and others around the perimeter
2. The 300 trees add to the visual amenity of the business site.
3. 50KW of solar panelling is located on all rooves, and provides 35% of their needs. They have also helped reduce power usage by 75%.
4. Packaging is recycled – cardboard packages are reclaimed from businesses around the state of NSW, and used to send camping kitchens all over Australia.
Drifta also builds its own pallets from scrap ply – a by-product of its camp kitchens. They need 20 to 30 pallets per week. To ensure their kitchens arrive at destinations in good order, Drifta places ply corners on them, all made from leftover ply. There are at least 240 of these needed each week.
5. The business works in an integrated fashion over five areas – camp kitchens, 4WD drawers, retail sales, trailers and the Snowpeak range.
Drifta employs 30 people fulltime, with the majority under 25 years old. This is a tremendous boost to the Gloucester community.
Profiles of the other winners will follow as details become available.