10 years of environmental leadership

Published Date
20/11/2018
News Topic
Sustainability & Environment
Environmental leadership

2018 marks ten years of environmental leadership by Randwick Council, and we’ve chalked up many wins. But there is always more that we can do. Read on to find out our vision for the next 10 years.

Randwick City contains a magnificent array of natural environment and we all have a responsibility to conserve its diversity for future generations. Enter Sustaining Our City, Council’s environmental program which has been focusing on just that for the past 10 years. Here’s how we’ve been delivering on our commitment to environmental improvements for the local community – and what we will focus on for the next 10.

1. Improving and extending our coastal walkway

The completion of a continuous walkway from Clovelly in the north to La Perouse in the south is a key priority for Council, and in the past decade we’ve made great leaps. Work has included creating a sustainable boardwalk at South Coogee, extending the walkway from Maroubra Beach to South Maroubra Beach and now on to Malabar either via the Western Walking Track or Boora Point Walking Track – both located in spectacular Malabar Headland. Council has plans to finalise the remaining missing sections of the walkway. You can read about the newest section of the walkway, the Cape Banks Walking Track.

2. Preserving our precious water resources

Did you know that our stormwater recycling projects save around 500 million litres of water – that’s more than 200 Olympic swimming pools each year! Council’s storage and treatment systems at Clovelly, Coogee and Yarra Bay capture stormwater run-off and put it through a strict treatment process, ensuring that even water used for irrigation is treated to a high standard. This reduces our reliance on tap water, thereby saving ratepayers’ money.

3. Reducing energy consumption

Sydney’s climate is ideally suited to harnessing energy from the sun, and so we’ve installed solar panels at a number of Council sites including the Prince Henry Centre (pictured below), Moverly Children’s Centre, Lionel Bowen Library, Des Renford Leisure Centre, community centres at Randwick and Kensington and Council’s Depot on Storey Street, Maroubra. We’ve saved a total of 177 kW of energy – enough electricity to power 70 Randwick households all year round.

Residents can get a free, no obligation quote about switching to solar panels through Our Energy Future, a Council-backed service providing access to energy solutions by calling 1300 339 915.

4. Increasing recycling

We’ve made great leaps in recycling in the past decade, increasing our landfill diversion from 39% to 56% through recycling and education campaigns, but we want to do more. The Waste Management Strategy 2017-2030 sets out Council’s vision for long term waste management in the City, and sets the target of increasing our recycling rate to 70% by 2022.

5. Restoring and protecting native plants and animal habitats

In the past five years we’ve planted 2,500 new street trees and 51,000 trees and shrubs in our parks and reserves. Our Bushcare volunteers and Council staff have worked close to 80,000 hours regenerating bushland with more than 10,000 new native plants. With 29 kilometres of coastline, our conservation remit extends to the protection of marine and coastal biodiversity through the introduction of innovative education programs such as the Marine and Coastal Program, which runs three times a year and attracts over 1,000 children and their families.

How you can help

We want to empower residents to do their bit to look after our beautiful City and lead the way with sustainability initiatives. You can find a wealth of resources on Council’s website - Get involved, including what you can recycle and where, helping to care for our native bushland, learning how to keep your own permaculture garden and helping to educate our younger generation through in-class workshops.

Last Updated: 1 March 2022
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