Community Involvement
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Working with the community
As a local, community focused business, we at Hume believe that we have a responsibility to not only be environmentally sustainable, but to also show the community how to become more sustainable. By educating, promoting and actively becoming greener ourselves, we can help the community to ensure we help build a greener environment for our children.
Sustainability Initiatives Supported by Hume
If you're an organiser of an initiative similar to those below and could use Hume's support, please feel free to fill out a sponsorship request form and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
Sponsorship Request Form
Albury-Wodonga Sustainability Market
Each year Hume hosts a Sustainability Market that seeks to educate the community on sustainable living practices that preserve resources and reduce the negative impact on our environment. The Market is an inspiring community event for business, residents and families with many activities and stalls promoting green products and ideas. Hume hosted the first Annual Albury Wodonga Sustainability Market in 2010 to officially launch the installation of its 90 solar panels.
In 2012, the Sustainability Market ran in conjunction with the Hume Murray Farmers' Market and also featured Hume and Baker Motors' Mitsubishi i-MiEV, one of very few fully electric cars in Australia. The Market coincides with Earth Hour annually.
Earth Hour
In 2012, Hume hosted Albury’s first Earth Hour event at the Japanese Pond at the Albury Royal Botanic Gardens. ‘Music by Moonlight’ was an acoustic candlelit event that was headlined by the award winning singer songwriter Dean Haitani. Dean was supported by student musicians from Albury and Murray High School, with all donations from the night going to the World Wildlife Federation.
Charity Evening
Each year, Hume hosts a movie evening to raise awareness of environmental issues while also raising funds for related charities. Hume has presented a range of different documentaries in the past including, The Burning Season and Food INC.
In 2010, Hume purchased 1060m2 of rainforest through Borneo Orangutan Survival Australia as part of the Samboja Lestari Project to help restore the rainforest, creating a safe haven for the orangutans and other wildlife.
All profits from the 2012 charity evening went to Wodonga Street Harvest, a local initiative run by Foodbank Victoria, a not-for-profit organisation that seeks to redistribute excess food for the hungry.
Adopt an Orangutan
Each year Hume supports baby Ruthie and Nody through BOS. Hume’s annual donation has helped Nody overcome his initial difficulties and he is growing into a strong, independent young male. Ruthie has started eating well; having an appropriate diet has definitely improved her mood and helped her recover from infection. She is now learning vital nest building skills at Forest School.
For more information on how you can help the Orangutans visit Borneo Orangtuan Survival Australia website.
Solar Car Challenge
Each year Hume sponsors the Albury Wodonga Solar Car Challenge. The program is designed to provide opportunities for students, teachers and local industry to work together to design, construct and race a remote controlled solar powered car.
The project culminates at a gala race day which is held at “Transformer Park” – Wilson Transformer Company, where all teams compete for one hour, with the winner the team whose car has completed the most laps. For more information please visit the Albury Wodonga Solar Car Challenge website.
Parklands Albury Wodonga
Hume has contributed to the refurbishment of a former spray unit into a fire fighting and watering unit. The unit will allow Parklands to water revegetation areas (including the 1400 plants Hume has planted over the past two years on Gateway Island as part of the Growing Green program) and to assist in fire suppression activities, including further support for local CFA brigades.
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Being committed to the environment, we have developed a policy shared by all staff across Hume as an entire organisation:
- Be one of the hundreds of millions around the globe and show your support by turning off your lights during Earth Hour on Saturday 26 March 2011 from 8.30pm.
- Turn appliances and lights off at the switch.
- Replace incandescent & halogen light globes for LED-based or Compact Fluorescent Light-globes.
- Turn the air conditioner thermostat to 27°C during summer and to 19°C in winter and save electricity.
- Turn down storage hot water system thermostats to 60°C.
- Use washing lines and indoor clothes racks instead of tumble driers.
- Install thermal curtains or doors in passageways to reduce heating and cooling requirements.
- Use fans as the preferred method of keeping cool, with air conditioning as a last resort.
- Use carpets and rugs over hard floors in winter to reduce heat loss, and remove them in summer to keep cool.
- Replace inefficient appliances with more efficient ones – (recycle old ones at a depot not on council bulk waste disposal collections).
- Harness energy from the sun by installing solar hot water and solar PV systems.
- Use good quality insulation bats in your ceilings.
- Replace electric heating appliances and stove tops with gas heating.
- Choose a fan-forced oven instead of a non-fan-forced one.
- Visit sites such as www.energyrating.gov.au to investigate the efficiency rating for appliances before purchasing them.
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- Have a shorter shower.
- Use a bucket in your sink or shower to catch water as it’s warming up and use on the garden.
- Use low flow water efficient shower heads and fit aerators to taps to reduce water flow.
- Mulch all garden beds/plants and water only in the mornings using drippers rather than spray fittings.
- Install rainwater tanks and plumb them into toilets and laundries.
- Install grey-water recycling systems from the laundry and bathroom to use grey water in the garden.
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- Use your own shopping bags
- Avoid products in unnecessary packaging.
- Buy recycled products or things that can be recycled.
- Eat less meat. It has been estimated that livestock production generates nearly one fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases.
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- Recycle glass, plastics, paper, cardboard and reduce landfill. Check with your local for a full list of what you can recycle.
- Use a reusable drink bottle.
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- Start a worm farm or compost bin and significantly reduce organic house hold waste.
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- Help offset your carbon emissions by planting a tree or joining a local Landcare group.
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- Slightly over-inflate your car tyres (but by no more than 3 to 4 PSI) to maximise fuel efficiency.
- Ride your bike or walk to work, school or to the local shops and reduce your household greenhouse gases.
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Hume is proud to support Ecoportal, which is a community website dedicated to share and support sustainability-related activities in our wonderful region.
Ecoportal is the result of a collaborative and committed effort by many representatives from various community groups working towards sustainability in and around Albury-Wodonga, North East Victoria and Southern New South Wales.
- Offers a central place for the promotion of upcoming sustainability events
- Provides links, information and contact details of local sustainability groups
- Encourages the sharing of skills, knowledge and resources locally
- Add to opportunities to network with others
Ecoportal website
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