Kāpiti Coast District Council developed a “Greenest Streets” competition in 2010. This has since developed into a Greener Neighbourhoods Programme.
In 2010, The Greenest Street competition was inspired by Council’s ongoing commitment to increasing sustainability and community resilience in the district. With support from Council, groups of neighbours spent nine months competing to reduce their environmental footprint. The average reduction in participants’ environmental footprint in the first two rounds of the competition was 16%.
Building Sustainable Communities: Kāpiti Coast’s Greenest Street 2010-12’ report covers the journeys toward sustainability taken by 84 households in seven streets since the competition began in 2010. The report is available on the Council website at www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/building-communities.
Professor Brenda Vale, Research Fellow at Victoria University and a competition judge for 2011/12, said, “None of the participants thought the reduction in environmental impact reduced their quality of life. In fact, coming together as a street to tackle the problem was observed to be life enriching and enhancing.”
in 2018 / 2019, Energise Ōtaki supported a Greener Neighbourhood’s Project at the Ōtaki Kindergarten entitled “Power to the People”, a bike to generate electricity for Ōtaki and conceived by Head Teacher Whaea Sue Barrett and parent Sara Velasquez. The project was supported by Ōtaki MenzShed, Hammerhead Hardware Ōtaki, Ōtaki Primary School, Bowler Motors, PSP Limited, The Ōtaki Mail, and Melo Yelo Ōtaki.