My Blog About Anything / Everything: Sustainable Living Blacktown

Sustainable Living Blacktown - May 2021

This month in Sustainable Living Blacktown:

is your home ready for winter?
safe disposal of problem waste
Get the Site Right blitz
look after your worms in winter
protect our biodiversity
World Migratory Bird Day
World Bee Day

Keeping your home warm can lead to high electricity bills. This is a result of rising energy prices and spending more time inside during cold days and nights. Now is the time to prepare for the upcoming winter months and gather information and ideas to help you heat your home efficiently.

Blacktown City Council has partnered with Australian Energy Foundation to provide our residents with independent and personalised advice on energy efficiency.

Use these tips to maximise efficient heating in your home:

seal the draughts around your home, to stop cold air coming in and warm air leaking out
ensure windows have coverings such as curtains, to help insulate the home
check your ceiling insulation for gaps and correct thickness
arrange a maintenance check for your air-conditioner or heater and clean the filters to ensure optimum efficiency
set your air-conditioners to 18⁰C-20⁰C (heat setting) for a comfortable temperature that won’t require as much energy. Each degree higher leads to about a 10% increase in running cost!

Take the opportunity to phone Australian Energy Foundation for a free energy consultation and you will automatically enter the draw to win a free on-site home energy assessment worth $300. Call 1300 23 68 55 or book here by 10 June 2021.

Have you checked your smoke detectors recently? Before winter sets in, take time to ensure that your smoke detectors are working properly. You may need to replace any faulty smoke detectors or batteries, and dispose of the old ones.

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

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

To book, visit the mobile community recycling service.

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.

Download the B informed app 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. 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.

This May, councils across Sydney are participating in an educational and compliance Get the Site Right blitz.

Get the Site Right focuses on erosion and sediment control on building and construction sites. The aim is to help ensure builders and home renovators keep sand, soil and gravel under control.

Sediment run-off can contain building materials such as cement, sand and soil, including various clays. These materials mix with water and enter the stormwater drains. The drains run into our creeks and rivers. The clay in the runoff can trap nutrients which cause algal blooms that harm aquatic plants and animals.

Council officers will visit building sites to ensure controls are in place. They will also check for instances of water pollution. These visits are in addition to the ongoing program of random inspections.

See a site that's not right? Report pollution incidents to Blacktown City Council on 9839 6000 or the Environment Protection Authority’s 24/7 environment line on 131 555.

Find out more about sediment controls here.

When compost worms become too cold they eat and reproduce less. This can lead to food scraps in the worm farm breaking down more slowly and becoming smelly.

If the inside temperature of the worm farm falls below 5˚C, worms will start to freeze and die.

Help prevent your worms from freezing by:

placing your worm farm undercover instead of out in the open. A carport or patio shelter works well
bringing your worm farm into the garage or house on particularly cold nights
insulating the worm farm, using an old blanket, towel or polystyrene box.

Blacktown City Council runs monthly introductory workshops on composting and worm farming, which include troubleshooting some of the most common worm farm issues. Join us, and you will also have a chance to ask other questions you may have. If you are interested in coming along, simply register through our Eventbrite page.

Biodiversity is the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat. It includes all the different species of plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms.

All these species are interconnected in some way and play a key role in sustaining our planet. Plants provide oxygen for all life on Earth, and bees and birds pollinate plants to produce fruit, vegetables and nuts.

We can all play a part to protect and sustain biodiversity.

Here's what you can do:

plant native plant species in your backyard as a food source and shelter for local wildlife
click here for more tips on how to make your garden wildlife-friendly
if you are a Blacktown City resident, get your garden started with 2 free plants from Council's nursery
help protect and preserve local bushland by joining a Bushcare group. Download the bushcare calendar and see the list of groups here.
keep your cats in, especially at night and report feral animal sightings to FeralScan
avoid littering and ensure that only rain goes down the drain because the stormwater drainage system runs into our creeks and rivers
create an environmentally sustainable home.

World Migratory Bird Day is on 8 May. The theme this year is ‘sing, fly, soar – like a bird!’

Currently, 16 migratory bird species visit Blacktown City from Japan, China and Korea. They rely on our wetlands for habitat over winter, flight pit stops and/or breeding sites.

For example, you might see the curlew sandpiper (pictured above) and the sharp-tailed sandpiper at Nurragingy Reserve, Lakes Edge Park or Riverstone Wetlands.

Help protect native birds at home by:

providing safe shelters, e.g. finches like dense vegetation grasses like kangaroo grass or lomandra
installing a bird bath
ensuring cats, dogs and other pets cannot access bird areas.

The NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc. (WIRES) does not encourage feeding native birds because it can affect their health and behaviour, and upset the natural balance of species.

Want to do more? Become a volunteer for the Powerful Owl Project and report your sightings the next time you spot or hear one. The powerful owl is a vulnerable species that is under threat from habitat loss due to increased urban development.

World Bee Day is on 20 May. It celebrates the important role bees play in food production, biodiversity and ecosystems.

Australia is home to around 2,000 bee species. Along with other pollinators, bees play a major role in Australia's agriculture. Some crops are almost completely dependent on bee pollination for fruit and nut production, like almonds, apples and blueberries.

Bee pollination is also important for biodiversity conservation. Native bees pollinate many eucalyptus and angophora trees. These are important species in the Cumberland Plain Woodland native vegetation community, which is found in Blacktown City. Conserving Cumberland Plain Woodland is important as only 9% of this vegetation community remains in western Sydney,

Here’s what you can do to help native bees:

plant a bee-friendly garden by selecting plants that flower all year round in a variety of colours and shapes
avoid insecticides if possible. Some insecticides harm beneficial insects as well as pests.
provide nest habitats like insect hotels, leaf litter piles or wallaby grass.