Taxman Among First Green Award Winners
By Dickson Li (Straits Times)
CITY Developments Limited (CDL), the taxman and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) were among those crowned winners at the inaugural Singapore Sustainability Awards 2010 yesterday.
The awards are aimed at promoting sustainable green practices such as recycling and energy efficiency.
‘With these awards, we hope to promote sustainability excellence among Singapore organisations so that more will be inspired to adopt similar practices,’ said Singapore Business Federation (SBF) chief executive Teng Theng Dar.
There are two categories of awards, for which 36 businesses were considered – the Outstanding Sustainability Awards (OSA) and Green IT (GIT) Awards.
The OSA is co-presented by the SBF and trade fair organiser Local Global Exhibition & Trade, with KPMG as the knowledge partner. It recognises Singapore firms for sustainable business practices and green solutions.
The GIT Awards are organised by the SBF, IBM and the Institute of Technical Education, with Frost & Sullivan as the knowledge partner. The awards recognise businesses with sustainable IT practices and solutions.
Senoko Power and CDL won the OSA in the enterprise green adopter category, while Samwoh and Tetra Pak Jurong were the winners of the OSA in the enterprise green technology/service enabler category.
Civil engineering and building material company Samwoh is at the forefront of building- recycling technology, recycling waste from building demolitions.
‘Making concrete using recycled aggregate may cost more but we’re talking about long- term sustainability,’ said Samwoh managing director Elvin Koh.
Another recipient, CDL, uses similar recycled ‘green concrete’ in its developments – Tampines Concourse, for instance. The building also has a natural day-lighting system and an air cooling system which uses water instead of ozone-depleting chemical refrigerants.
The LTA and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore received GIT Awards, as did home-grown Trusted Hub, which won in the small and medium-sized enterprise category.
The SBF will aid winners in exploring sustainable business openings overseas.
‘We are targeting the Asean markets,’ said Mr Teng, adding that it was also working with IE Singapore with an eye on business opportunities in eco-cities such as Hangzhou and Tianjin.
‘The award itself is competency branding,’ he said. ‘ Some winners may be known in a certain sector but may not be well known in the overseas market and this will become their credentials.’
