Sustainable Living - ENewsletter - Blacktown City Council

 

We would love to get your thoughts and feelings about the future of our waste and recycling service in Blacktown City.

Have you wondered why we don’t have a garden waste bin? Would you like to help choose our new waste service?

Currently we collect the bins from more than 122,000 households and we want to make sure we take everyone’s thoughts into account.

We need to change our current waste system for a number of reasons, including:

• NSW Government regulation changes
• limited space in landfills
• our existing contract is expiring
• our new waste and resource recovery strategy is being developed.

As a result of this need to change, we have engaged Woolcott Research and Engagement, an independent market research company, to work with our residents to gain a better understanding of your preferences for the future of waste services in the local area.

We would like you to have your say on this important topic so if you would like to be involved head over to the website that contains important information about our current waste services, as well as potential options for the future delivery of these services.

Do you have problem waste at home that you don’t know how to get rid of?

Our mobile community recycling service is a safe and easy way for you to recycle and safely dispose of household waste, such as:

• old cooking oil, motor vehicle oils and paint
• fluorescent globes and tubes
• smoke detectors, gas bottles, fire extinguishers
• car and household batteries.

Enter your details under the ‘book a free pick up’ tab to receive a collection date and instructions on how to place items for safe and easy collection.

To book, visit the mobile community recycling service.

To find out how to correctly dispose of an item, receive reminders to put out your bins and contact us to book a clean-up, download the B informed app.  Our waste app is your one stop shop for all of this and more, and can be downloaded for Apple and Android devices on this link.

We are proud to announce that we recently won the Local Government NSW Excellence in the Environment Award's Communication, Education and Empowerment category.  This award recognises the engagement by Council with residents on specific issues surrounding climate change.

Our climate change communications program was based on our responding to climate change policy commitments, our risk context, the socio-economic diversity of our community and feedback from residents.

We set out to:

• provide practical information to support actions to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change impacts, especially increases in summer heat
• support community resilience, and disaster and emergency preparedness
• cover topics relevant for different audiences and circumstances.

From January 2019 – June 2020, we engaged with:

• 533 local residents through 8 events
• more than 237,000 people through 29 Facebook posts on topics such as saving energy in the home and the ‘Get Prepared’ app
• more than 14,000 people who watched our online videos.

We take this opportunity to thank all of you who participated and engaged with us.  We continue to welcome your ideas on ways that we can work with you to protect our shared environment.  Email us on mailto:ourenvironment@blacktown.nsw.gov.au

National Recycling Week is now in its 25th year and is being held from Monday 9 November to Sunday 15 November 2020.

This year’s theme, ‘Recovery – A future beyond the bin’ invites us to consider the resources that we use and how they can have a second life through reuse and recycling while also reducing virgin resource use.

By reducing our waste and recycling as much as possible, we are able to keep valuable materials out of landfill and provide additional environmental benefits such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the need for new materials.

The key message, ‘check it before you chuck it’, is a great reminder to check if a product and/or its packaging can be recycled before throwing it away. To check if an item is recyclable, look for the Australasian recycling label on the outer packaging of a product or check the B informed app to see how you can correctly dispose of the item.

This year, Planet Ark has put together a collection of resources to help us all better understand the recycling process.  These resources are grouped for workplaces, schools, homes and community use and are available on the National Recycling Week website.

Summer is nearly here.  Have you thought about whether your home is ready for extreme summer heat?

Small changes around the house and yard can reduce summer temperatures, improve your comfort and save energy:

Consider these tips for inside your home:

• installing blinds or hanging block-out curtains to reduce heat coming through windows
• installing insulation in the roof cavity to reduce heat from the roof entering the rooms below.

Consider these tips for outside your home:

• planting trees or shrubs to provide shade to the house and paved areas or using potted plants, which can be a better, portable option if renting
• installing awnings outside windows or setting up shade sails to shelter windows and paved areas that receive hot afternoon sun
• placing potted plants outside windows to create a green screen
• using lighter coloured roofs to reflect heat
• using a light, reflective colour when laying concrete paths and driveways.

Open the windows at night to allow cooler air to flow through the house. First, consider if windows and doors can be safely left open overnight and whether you might need window locks or fly screens. You might need to check with your agent or landlord before making any changes to leased properties. 

More information on keeping your home cool is available here.

 

Did you know that feeding bread to the ducks that live near our local waterways makes them ill?  The natural diet of ducks consists of aquatic plants, insects and grasses. 

Feeding ducks, water birds and fish on bread, chips and crackers causes disease for the wildlife, including malnutrition, liver problems, deformed wings, brittle bones, weak egg shells and fatal lung infections.

Leaving any bread, food and packaging in and around waterways is considered littering, which is a fineable offence. 

The leftover food contaminates the water and encourages vermin which compete with the wildlife for habitat and natural food. Any uneaten bread left in the water also increases the risk of harmful bacteria that can make ducks sick.  

WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service) provides more information on the problems that can occur when we feed ducks and other wildlife.

Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the use of personal protective items such as face masks, gloves and hand sanitiser.

This has led to used face masks, gloves and tissues now being littered across the globe and even being left in shopping trolleys. Face masks contain plastic materials, so they can impact the environment for a long time when littered.

Littering these items can put other community members at risk of contracting COVID-19. It is also illegal and a $450 aggravated littering fine can be issued to anyone who litters these items.

Items that should be placed in your garbage bin include:

• face masks
• tissues
• disposable gloves.

A good tip to reduce plastic and save money is to buy a big bottle of hand sanitiser and refill your small one. The empty plastic hand sanitiser containers that are 7cm in length or longer should be placed in your yellow lidded bin for recycling, which helps to reduce plastic waste going to landfill. Place the pump in the red-lidded garbage bin.  

Find out more on how to reduce litter in the environment, and reducing any litter-related spread of infection, by visiting Keep Australia Beautiful.

How is your vegetable garden looking? Are your old broccoli or lettuce plants growing tall and flowering?

Now is the time to prepare your garden for summer by:

• removing old winter plants and vegetables and placing them in your compost bin
• topping up your garden with compost or decomposed manure, to provide nutrients for your new plants
• mulching lightly to conserve water during summer’s heat
• sowing seeds from your old summer plants for your next crop.

If composting is a mystery to you, we offer composting and worm farming workshops to residents.

November is an ideal time to plant vegetable seeds for summer. Climbing and dwarf varieties of beans, beetroot, carrot, lettuce and corn seeds can be planted directly into your garden bed.

Check here for more planting options for November and to receive regular planting recommendations.

 

Sustainable Living Blacktown is an initiative of Blacktown City Council