awards  waterless  environment 
Fishprint of Brighton East, Vic, has been awarded for its water saving-efforts in the annual savewater! Awards. The awards were presented at the Plaza Ballroom, Melbourne on Friday night. Fishprint won the ‘small business’ section of the ‘service providers’ category for its use of waterless offset printing.

Fishprint has used waterless offset since 2005, saving 46,000 litres - or more than 340 bathtubs - of water annually.
 
Managing director, Peter Booth, accepted the award on behalf of Fishprint.
 
The savewater! awards recognise and reward outstanding achievement in water conservation. They are an initiative of the savewater! Alliance Inc, an alliance of metropolitan and regional water businesses from Victoria and New South Wales.

Says savewater! CEO, Nigel Finney, “It is clear that the innovative thinking for which Australians are renowned is being used to address the water challenge.

“I congratulate Fishprint for inspiring Victorians to follow its lead by demonstrating practical ways to rise to the water saving challenge.”

Chief judge of the awards, Rob Gell led an expert panel made up of academics and industry and government experts, to decide upon the winners.

He says factors that led to Fishprint winning its award include its system, which is widely applicable to the whole printing industry; its effort to generate new knowledge and operations; and its efforts to reduce other environmental impacts such as paper usage.
 
Winners were announced in ten Victorian-based categories. The ‘product innovations’ category was open nationwide representing the first time in the programme’s five-year history that it has extended beyond Victoria.

Hume City Council won the night’s top honour, the overall Award for Excellence, for its municipal-wide initiatives.
 
Other savewater! awards winners for 2006/07 are: 

• Built Environment: Coles Group Limited for Target headquarters, Geelong.
• Community Action: Heatherdale Tennis Club Inc for its waterless tennis courts.
• Individual Action: Janet Steele of Mitcham, for her sustainable home.
• Education Programs: Bentleigh West Primary School, for its wide-reaching and innovative program.
• Garden Management: Greenmark Landscapes, for it’s self-sustaining garden.
• Government: Hume City Council for its range of water saving initiatives across the municipality.
• Manufacturing: Qenos for water saving improvements to its manufacturing system. (Commendation to Godfrey Hirst Australia)
• Primary Industries: Gippsland dairy farmers Darren and Michelle Berryman, for new irrigation technology trials.
• Product Innovation: Muller Industries Australia, for the Muller 3C, a hybrid alternative to cooling towers.
• Regional Business: Linencare, Geelong for the use of water saving technology in its laundry.