Walk to Work Day – 16th September

Walk to Work day is on again! Now in its 13th year, the Cancer Council National Walk to Work Day is an annual event which helps people to build regular walking into their daily routine.

Did you know that people who walk before and during work are generally healthier, more productive and creative and less likely to be sick? Regular walking can also help to relieve feelings of depression or anxiety, and it improves our environment by reducing car dependency.

We’d love to hear about the creative ways you will participate in Walk to Work Day on the16th September. Let us know what you’re up to by emailing us at mdesmarch@penrithcity.nsw.gov.au

Here are some suggestions on how you can Walk to Work:
• If you can't walk all the way, get off the bus or train a few stops early and walk the rest of your journey
• If you must drive, leave the car at least a kilometre from your destination and walk the rest of the way.
• Take a half-hour walk at lunchtime and where possible, use the stairs.
• If you are required to sit a lot at work, get up and walk around at least once every hour.

So, step into Spring, put your feet first and register at www.walk.com.au to take part in Cancer Council Walk to Work Day.

Spring Gardening Festival - Sat 10 September

Well the days are getting warmer and Spring is just around the corner – what better way to enjoy it than by getting outside in the garden? The good news is the Library have organised the Spring Garden Festival to celebrate all things gardening. If you've got a green thumb (or you’re like me and you wish your brown thumb was a little greener), the Festival is not to be missed. On the day 1000 trees and shrubs will be given away! There are also a range of really interesting talks throughout the day:

Talks in the Library Theatrette
10am – Sustainable gardening in suburbia – I did it, you can too!
11am – Container growing – veggie garden in a box
12pm – Composting
1pm – Worm farming
2pm – Sydney Food Fairness Alliance

Talks in PC Training Room
10am – Benefits of a garden club
10.30am – Bush regeneration
11.30am – Fuchsias
12.30pm – Therapeutic properties of herbal teas
1.30pm – Salvias

Talks in Woodlands Room
10.30am – Pest management the permaculture way

In addition to all of the talks, a range of friendly experts will be on hand with information on different gardening topics, plus there’ll be pruning and propagating demos, plant varities to check out, handouts and so on. If you’ve got a question you’d like to answer, these are the people to ask! Some of the groups who’ll be on hand to help you include:

• Nepean Bonsai Society
• The In-Ground Fuchsia Group
• The Bromeliad Society of Australia
• The Australian Geranium Society
• Bushcare
• Blue Mountains and Nepean Herb Group
• Blue Mountains and Penrith Districts Orchid Society
• Hazelbrook & Woodford Garden Festival
• Lower Blue Mountains Garden Club,
• Penrith City Garden Club
• Sydney Food Fairness Alliance
• Permaculture Blue Mountains

We’re really looking forward to it, and we hope to see you there! For more information call the library on (02) 4732 7891.

E-Waste Drop Off Day - Sat 10 Sep

Following the massive success of the first E-waste collection day, Council is holding another one on Saturday 10 September. This is a perfect opportunity to dispose of items like old TVs, computers, phones etc in a sustainable way.

The E-waste collection day goes from 9am-3.30pm at Jamison Park (South Penrith), and entry is via Jamison Road. More information on the day, including the items you can drop off, can be found on the Council website, please click here to view it.

The first E-Waste recycling drop off day was held on 19 February 2011 at Jamison Park. In under 7 hours, 1095 vehicles dropped off a massive 72.5 tonnes of computers, televisions and other old electronic appliances!

St Clair couple reduce their annual water and energy bills by almost $1000 with simple changes!

Have you ever wondered what effect all those little things you could be doing at home would have on the environment and your wallet? Sure they say all those little things add up, but how much? A couple from St Clair recently wondered this, and what they’ve achieved is outstanding!

Zuzana Cernak-Frketic and Robert Frketic of St Clair became inspired after attending one of Penrith City Council’s recent Sustainable Living workshops. “The workshop we attended ‘Home sustainability basics’ gave us the motivation and inspiration to do something about reducing our water and energy use” explains Zuzana.

“The first thing I did was to determine what our daily usage was by calculating the average of past water and electricity usage bills (this was based on 12 months) using a spreadsheet. Our average daily usage was 471 litres of water and 19.5 kWh of energy. The next thing I did was an itemised water audit to determine how much water each water activity uses. I did this by doing a water meter reading before and after each activity. Then I did an audit of what we used”. By doing this, they were able to track their energy and water usage and work out exactly how much they were saving.

So what did they achieve?
Zuzana and Robert were able to achieve a massive 68% reduction in their water use, and a 52% reduction in their energy use – this equates to saving a total of $985 a year! “The results blew us away. We are so pleased that we are doing something for the environment and our wallets”.

Their energy and water usage and what they were able to save is outlined in the table below.




How did they do it?
Saving almost $1,000 on your annual energy and water bills is an amazing achievement in itself – not to mention the positive outcomes for the environment. So we asked Zuzana what they did to get such fantastic results. We’ve outlined their top tips below, and we challenge you to take on some of them in your own home and see what you save!

Zuzana and Robert’s top tips for saving energy:
• Turn off all electrical appliances/services at the power point when not is use
• Cook in bulk (make 4-6 servings per dish)
• Cook more than one item when using the oven
• Trade your rechargeable cordless phone for a phone with a cord – this means there’s no need to charge your batteries all the time
• Use hot water bottles and multiple layers of clothing to heat up and stay warm
• Use the torch to move around the house at night instead of flicking on light switches
• Have two 24 hour TV/computer/radio free days
• For parties use a wood fire oven and wood fire pot to cook for your guests
• Once a week eat only raw food. Have a competition of who can make the tastiest and most creative salad made from either vegetables or fruit, and use herbs from the garden

Zuzana and Robert’s top tips for saving water:
• Shower for 4 minutes (use a shower timer)
• Only use the washing machine when it’s full, and use cold water only
• Use a bucket in the shower to collect the initial 30 seconds of cold water until it heats up and use this water to fill up the washing machine
• Wash vegetables and fruit under a bucket and use it to water the garden
• Mulch your garden (this cuts down on watering and improves the soil health)
• Use a broom instead of vacuuming tiles and floorboards
• When rinsing dishes, turn off the tap between dishes
• Use several buckets to collect water for the garden
• Wash your car in the rain
• Flush your toilet only when it’s needed (we have the motto “if it’s yellow let it mellow, if its brown, flush it down” attached on our bathroom wall for all to see)

Where to from here for our sustainability champions?
You’d think that they’d be pretty happy with what they’ve achieved, but Zuzana and Robert have even more goals that they want to achieve. In the short term this includes buying a more water efficient washing machine, borrowing a power mate meter from the library to determine the energy being used by each of their appliances, installing rain water tanks, and reusing grey water from the washing machine.

Within 6 months, their aim is to reduce their water consumption to less than 100 litres a day and their energy use to less than 5kwh per day. Using our energy and water costs from before, that equates to:
• An annual energy bill of $361 – that’s $90 a quarter!
• An annual water bill of $76 – that’s $19 a quarter!
We can’t wait to catch up with them at the end of the year and see how they are doing.

Jay from Masterchef set to cook up a storm in Penrith!

In exciting news we’ve managed to sign up Jay Huxley, who was one of this years outstanding Masterchef contestants, to help out with some cooking demonstrations and workshops in Penrith.

Jay grew up in Cranebrook, and is passionate about sharing his love of cooking with us. “I am excited about the prospect of working on this project. The area and cause are both things that are close to my heart”.



Council has received funding from the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), to develop a program of activities including cooking demonstrations and workshops as part of the Love Food Hate Waste program. Participants will learn about things like planning meals, cooking leftovers, as well as a bunch of Jay’s other cooking tips. We’re still finalising everything, but we’re really excited about what’s coming up later in the year.

To find out more about Love Food Hate Waste visit the official website. We’ll post more information here about what we’re doing in Penrith as it comes to hand, however in the mean time why not check out Jay’s website and check out his handy work! www.jayhuxley.com

Naidoc Week celebrations – a great celebration for the whole community!

Once again the Penrith NAIDOC celebrations were a great success! After a week of wild and windy weather, the day was perfect with heaps of sunshine and barely a whisper of wind. There were things for the whole family, though the kids were particularly well looked after – the giant slide was definitely a crowd favourite. Even Echo, Council’s sustainability mascot dropped in and joined in the fun. If you missed this great community event, make sure you make an effort to come down next year.

Recycling on an industrial scale

Old industrial buildings and structures have a unique beauty and style all of their own. One only has to look at something like the Queen Victoria Building to be reminded of the old saying ‘they sure don’t make ‘em like they used to’. And in many respects, that’s great! New buildings are becoming more and more sustainable in how they are built, and more efficient in how they are run – and that’s great for the environment and for us.

At the same time there are a bunch of old industrial sites which are sitting unloved and unmaintained. Of course the million dollar question is what’s the best thing to do with them? Sure you could pull it down, but why not make use of that beautiful industrial style and local history? And how good would it be if you could make it into something that the community can use and cherish?

Well we’ve found a few examples (a couple of Sydney ones and one from New York) which do exactly that. It’s a great reminder that we should never be afraid to think outside of the box, because that’s where some of the most exciting sustainability ideas lie.

Paddington Reservoir, Paddington NSW
Images from City of Sydney


Paddington Reservoir was built between 1866 and 1878 as a key water storage facility for Sydney. After being decommissioned in 1899, the site served as a workshop and service station. However in 1991 part of the roof collapsed and the area was closed off for a number of years for safety reasons. It has since been revitalised into a stunning community park, which celebrates it’s beauty and also its history. For more information click here.

Ballast Point Park, Birchgrove NSW
Image from Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority


Ballast Point Park was used between 1788 and 1800 as a source of ballast for ships returning to Europe. It was owned by a variety of people, and then served as a fuel depot from the 1920s to the 1990s. Again it was derelict for a number of years, before being revitalised into a fantastic community park. For more information click here.

High Line Park, New York
Images from www.treehugger.com


The High Line is an elevated railway that was built in the 1930s in Manhattan, as the previous railway line on the street was causing too many accidents. It was used until 1980, and likewise it fell into a state of disrepair. Following a number of years of community and legal debate about what to do with it, it was rebuilt as thread of elevated parkway creating much needed parkland for the city of New York. For more info check out the High Line website.

Of course other well known examples include The Brickpit at Sydney Olympic Park and the nearby Newington Armoury. All of these examples serve to highlight the potential for creating great resources when you use the principles of sustainability and think outside of the box!

Sustaining the Meadow sows the seeds of success!

We love hearing about some of the great sustainability initiatives which are being undertaken in the local community. The ‘Sustaining the Meadow’ project is a great example!

Held in Claremont Meadows, the project involved a series of sustainability workshops for local residents over the last couple of months. Topics included creating your own seed raising mix, sowing seeds, vegetable gardening in a box, organic pest control and creating a worm farm. The workshops weren’t just theory either, participants at each workshop got to get in and get their hands dirty! The workshop series was coordinated by the St Marys Area Community Development Project, with funding from Penrith City Council’s Magnetic Places Program.

By all reports everyone had a great time at the workshops and walked away brimming with new information and enthusiasm – we can’t wait to see what they get up to with their new skills!

If you’d like more information about the Sustaining the Meadow project, or other exciting programs happening in the Claremont Meadows area, call Greg Harriden on 9673 2169. Greg is a Community Development Worker with the St Marys Area Community Development Project and he would love to hear from you.

Getting a handle on the carbon tax

The Federal Government have just announced their plans for a carbon tax for Australia, and quite rightly it’s got people across the country talking about it. Basically the big questions are what is it, how is it going to work, and how is it going to affect my household/work/business?

We’ve done a little research to try and make it easier for you to understand what it means for you and the country as a whole.

The Federal Government have established www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au to help people learn more. One of the great features is this household calculator , where you can quickly and easily estimate what the impact of the proposed changes will be. I just did it for my own household, and it was nice and easy to use.

So how does a carbon tax like this go towards addressing the issue of climate change? Here’s a simple graphic which explains the principle behind it.

Another good link we’ve found is this 6 page pdf. The document outlines the key actions and activities which will be undertaken as part of the proposed scheme, such as things like investing in renewable energy.

Come celebrate NAIDOC week at Jamison Park

NAIDOC Week is a time to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and is an opportunity to recognise the contributions of Indigenous Australians in various fields.

NAIDOC stands for the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced back to the 1920s, when Aboriginal groups sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Indigenous Australians. To learn more, check out the NAIDOC website.

To celebrate this important event, why not come down to Jamison Park on Friday 8 July? The event runs from 10.30am to 3.30pm and will include singers, games, barbeque, mixed netball and touch football competitions, and activities for children!