Council achieves Milestone 5 of the Water Campaign

Council joined the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives Water Campaign in December 2003 and was awarded Milestone 5 on 26 May 2008 signifying the completion of all milestones in the program.

During the program Council reduced its water consumption by 35.28% from the baseline year (2001/2002), developing several policies and implementing several programs, including:

- The development of WaterWay: Councils strategy for improving corporate and community water quality and conservation;
- The development of the Data Management System in Finance 1: allowing Council to track and report on Water and Energy consumption at Council facilities;
- The incorporation of water conservation actions and key performance indicators in Outcome Manager: ensuring the delegation of responsibilities for water conservation and requiring regular reporting of progress against key performance indicators;
- Training of Council staff and community members on the importance of water conservation, and;
- Continual review and improvement of public open space irrigation: with public open space irrigation accounting for a significant proportion of Council’s water consumption.

Council’s participation in the Water Campaign has resulted in clearly defined objectives, strategies and actions for managing Council and community water resources and Council is committed to ensuring that these are achieved. The Water Campaign also assisted Council in integrating these water conservation objectives and actions into Council’s Strategic Plan, Management Plan and Annual Report. These were large tasks and have aligned Council’s Sustainability Plans with its Corporate Plans.

From more information on the Water Campaign visit Council's website at http://www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/index.asp?id=3769

Sustainability Streeters keep the vibe going!

Three months after the Sustainability Street graduation of the two latest streets – The Straight Rd Mulgoa and Penrith City Garden Club- the streets are about to embark on two community projects in the Local Government Area, with the Mulgoa Sustainability Street group working with Mulgoa Public School to build a community garden, and the Garden Club working with Mamre House to improve their plant propogation and irrigation systems.

The Mulgoa Sustainability Street group project will help to establish a community garden that can be used to grow fruit and vegetables for consumption by local residents and the school students. This will provide valuable learning experiences for all about how to establish a successful garden and provide additional opportunities for the school to undertake lessons on related sustainability issues such as ‘food miles’, recycling and composting, organic gardening and the importance of being waterwise. Susan Ward from Sustainability Street said: ‘This is an excellent opportunity for the information and knowledge gained from the Sustainability Street program to be shared more broadly with the local community’.


The Penrith City Garden Club community project with Mamre House to improve their plant propogation and irrigation systems will allow Mamre House to continue to propagate seedlings and provide the community with a beautiful range of local native plants. The project will also provide a great opportunity for a closer link to be developed between Mamre House and the Gardening Club and for the Garden Club members to add their own gardening knowledge and expertise to the project.

Both projects are expected to be completed by the end of June, with the bricks already laid down for the Mulgoa community vegetable garden. The funding for these community projects was made possible through grant funding provided by the NSW Government’s Environmental Trust, with Penrith City Gardening Club providing additional funding to go towards their project.

Council attends the Science in the Suburbs Expo

On 27 and 28 May staff from Council’s Sustainability Unit and Building Services Department participated in the Science in the Suburbs Expo at Sydney Olympic Park with an interactive display on the Solar Boat Challenge.

Science in the Suburbs is one part of the outreach programs undertaken as part of the Science in the City project run by the Australian Museum and the University of Sydney. Modelled on the successful Science in the City event, the expo provides students with the opportunity to attend talks, shows, workshops and activities on science and technology. The first day is for high schools and the second day for primary schools.

Council’s display on the Solar Boat Challenge gave kids the opportunity to find out more about the challenge, have a closer look at the model solar power boats and how they work, and learn more about solar energy. Some of the other organisations there on the day included University of Sydney, Questacon, Jenolan Caves, NSW Department of Primary Industries, University of Newcastle and Fizzics Education.

Science in the Suburbs events have been held since 2004 and cater for schools in outer Sydney and regional areas. The project is supported by the Australian Government through the Science Connections Programme administered by the Department of Education, Science and Training.

Purchases made by Council go sustainable!

Last month more than 100 staff attended Council’s Sustainable Purchasing Briefing Sessions. Staff from Financial Services and the Sustainability Unit undertook seven staff briefing sessions on the recently adopted Sustainable Purchasing Supply Policy. All staff where invited to attend to find out more about the policy, how to implement it and what sort of things they need to consider before making a purchase on behalf of Council.

The objectives of Council’s Sustainable Purchasing Supply Policy are to:

• Demonstrate to the community that Council’s purchasing decisions can improve markets for environmentally preferred products, enhance environmental quality; be resource responsible and contribute to progress toward sustainability,


• Purchase environmentally preferred products whenever they perform satisfactorily and are available at a reasonable price,


• Reduce impacts on the environment and human health through changing purchasing behaviour,


• Eliminate unnecessary purchasing,


• Make purchasing decisions in line with the waste hierarchy to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle, and


• Improve the environment and contribute to progress towards sustainability
  

With this in mind all employees are now endeavouring to purchase goods and services with the most beneficial environmental impact and are considering the content of the product/service, products that are reusable and /or recyclable, and the environmental performance of goods, service and of the supplier.

To showcase some of the sustainable products available we also had Complete Office Supplies and the LGSAs Sustainable Choice Program there as well, demonstrating the wide variety of green products that are becoming more and more widely available.

To find out about some of the sustainable purchases Council is making click here.

Latest Sustainable Times Out Now

The latest edition of Penrith City Council's Sustainable Times newsletter is out now. The Sustainable Times is a newsletter aimed at local schools, and provides information on activities, projects and upcoming initiatives that might be of interest to schools and school children.

To download your copy simply click here. If you would like to be added to our mailing list send Krystie Race an email, stating your preference for an electronic or hard copy.

The Term 2 edition for 2008 is packed with useful information, including stories on:

- Schools come Clean
- Waste Wise Initiatives for Schools
- Walk Safely to School Day
- Every Drop Counts in Schools program.
- Children to run Council meeting
- Science in the Suburbs
- Next SPenSEN meeting

April Edition of the Sustainability Street Newsletter Out Now!

The latest edition of the Sustainability Street Newsletter for Penrith is out now. Click here to download your copy.


Read on for stories on:

- Now's the Time to Continue the Sustainability Street Journey!
- Upcoming Street Dates
- Last Words from Vanessa
- The Growers vs Green Thumbs
- Talkin (Sustainability) Shop
- Keeping that Enviro Momentum Going
- More Sustainability Streeters Now On the Street!
- The News in Brief

If you would like to be added to our mailing list to receive a copy of the newsletter automatically just email Krystie Race and specify whether you would like to receive it electronically or in the mail.

Winner of the Name the Water Dragon Competition

Council recently held a competition to name its mascot for sustainability, the Eastern Water Dragon. The water dragon has been chosen as a symbol of Council’s Sustainable Penrith program because it lives along the banks of local waterways and represents Penrith City’s social, environmental and economic health.

More than 200 entries were received with many creative and innovative names suggested for our friendly lizard, making the job of judging a difficult one for our panel.

The winning name for the competition is ‘Echo’ the Eastern Water Dragon. The name ‘Echo’ was suggested by local resident, Karen Silversides of Glenmore Park. Karen put a lot of thought into the name and felt that the name was a perfect match for our mascot because how we treat the environment now will continue to echo down through generations to come. The name also has connections to the words ‘ecological’ and ‘ecosystems’ which are important within the sustainability context of our City.

By suggesting the winning name Karen not only wins the right to officially name our Eastern Water Dragon, she also receives tickets for 2 adults and 2 children to attend Taronga Zoo’s ‘Roar and Snore’ adventure, which includes overnight accommodation, meals and special behind the scenes access and tours through the Zoo.

Congratulations Karen and thank you for the thought you put into naming ‘Echo’. Naming our Mascot will help Council further promote awareness of the values for which he stands.

Earth Hour 2008- Business & School Update

Since our last blog entry (yesterday!) we have already had another organisation - St Marys Area Community Development project Inc. (SMACD) and another business - Crystal Clear Filtration Systems (Aust) Pty Ltd sign up for Earth Hour as well as another seven local schools, including Emmaus Catholic College, Oakville Public School, Caroline Chisholm College, Kingswood South Public School, Montgrove College, Mary MacKillop Primary School and St Marys North Public School. So that’s now a total of nine local schools, seven businesses and three organisations. Keep up the good work!

If you haven’t already signed up to show the world you care and pledged your commitment to Earth Hour all you need to do is click here to be directed to the Earth Hour website where you can register your business, school or organisation.

Earth Hour 2008 Update

As most of you would be aware Penrith City Council is once again throwing its support behind Earth Hour - an annual event coordinated by WWF Australia to raise awareness of climate change, while at the same time encouraging households, schools, businesses and organisations to take the practical steps that are needed to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 5% over the coming year.

Along with millions of others around the globe, Penrith City Council will "power down" for one hour on Saturday 29 March at 8pm by turning off non-essential lighting across Council owned facilities and encouraging all staff to switch off machines and unplug appliances at the power point before they leave the office.

The inaugural Earth Hour event in 2007 saw Sydney plunge into temporary darkness as more than 2 million residents turned off lights and appliances, which, as a result, helped cut energy usage by 10 percent. This year Earth Hour has grown significantly, with more than 20 cities around the world signing up and millions of people in households, communities, businesses and corporations set to take part.

Several Council facilities, as well as a number of schools, businesses and organisations across Penrith City will be participating in Earth Hour this year – most noticeably by switching off their lights for one hour on Saturday 29 March at 8pm. Currently we have 89 residents across the Local Government Area; two local schools, including Holy Cross and St Clair Public School; six local businesses, including Altank Sheet Metal, Lindsay PieMaking Equipment Pty Ltd, Holistic Healing Therapies, eSpire Solutions, Colliers International and The Candle Hut and two organisations, including Technocrats Association of Australia and UWS have signed up, not to mention 10 Council owned facilities as well. Way to go Penrith City!

If you haven’t already signed up to show the world you care and pledged your commitment to Earth Hour all you need to do is click here to be directed to the Earth Hour website where you can register your home. Let’s see if we can hit 200!

Even if you can’t switch your lights off for the one hour period you can still participate. Earth Hour is as much about making the small changes needed to reduce energy consumption as it is about switching off the lights, so why not sign up for Earth Hour and start looking for areas where you can save 5%?

As an extra incentive to get involved Penrith City Council will commit to plant a native tree or shrub on behalf of each home, business or school that signs up to participate in Earth Hour 2008. The planting will be undertaken with assistance from NRMA Insurance through their communityhelp Grants Program and the planting will be undertaken in Werrington Creek Park, Cambridge Park.

For more information on Earth Hour and how you can make a difference, go to www.earthhour.org or visit our website.

Graduates of Sustainability

Saturday 1 March was an important day for members of Penrith's newest Sustainability Streets, with participants of the program graduating in a celebration held in the lovely grounds of Muru Mittigar.

After a week of rain Saturday dawned bright and sunny - just perfect for our requirements, with the sun lasting throughout the ceremony and through to the lovely BBQ lunch and bush tucker tasting, which seemed to be well and truly enjoyed by all.

Some special guests (apart from the Sustainability Street participants) were on hand to lend some ceremony to the occassion and included:

• The Mayor of Penrith City, Councillor Greg Davies;


• Council's Sustainability Champion, Councillor Karen McKeown;
  
• One of the founders of the Sustainability Street Approach, Dave Seignior, a Director of Vox Bandicoot Pty Ltd; and
  
• Group mentor, Vanessa Steele.

The highlight of the morning were some passionate and heart felt speeches from some of our sustainability graduands, putting into words how the Sustainability Street experience had affected them and what they had gleaned from the workshops since the program began way back in July 2007.

A big thanks and congratulations to Lee, Irene, Gretel and Janis who were the brave ones to get up and speak in front of the crowd!

A huge novelty cheque was also presented to both groups as part of the graduation ceremony to allow them to get a community project of their choice underway with the Mulgoa group choosing to work with Mulgoa Public School on a community vegetable garden, and the Garden Club working with Mamre House to improve their plant propogation and irrigation systems. The funding for these community projects was made possible by grant funding provided by the NSW Government through their Environmental Trust.

To find out more about the Sustainability Street program and getting your street, club or community involved email Council's Sustainability Education Officer or call 4732 8050.