Eco Living Festival

18 September 2022, 10am - 3pm
Randwick Community Centre, 27 Munda Street Randwick

The Eco Living Festival is jam-packed with workshops, talks, demonstrations, live performances, market stalls, sustainable and organic food, fun family entertainment, and the latest ideas and information on living cleaner, greener and more sustainably.

• Workshops and demonstrations including sustainable kitchen workshops and bike maintenance
• Free expert advice from energy saving and solar, to keeping bees, gardening and sustainable food practices to integrate into everyday life
• Electric vehicle display - sign up for the Randwick Electric Vehicle Bulk Buy to purchase an affordable and quality second hand EV
• Market stalls promoting and showcasing environmental friendly home-wares and products from across the Eastern suburbs and wider Sydney
• Talks - 5 conversations on environmental solutions you won't want to miss!
• Cooking demonstrations – waste less, save more!
• Volunteer's village - meet our dedicated and enthusiastic community groups championing environmental solutions
• Live music stage, including Blak Douglas, local choir master Stuart Davis and local dance and school band groups
• Kids entertainment including native wildlife, garden play, puppet making in the Enchanted Forest, Mick Conway ‘rubbish’ show, Gypsy caravan, the King and Queen of Green! craft workshops, and much... much  more!

Garage Sale Trail

19 & 20 October

Garage Sale Trail is one BIG WEEKEND of garage sales that's happening right across Australia on October 19 and 20. It’s an idea to help encourage reuse, reduce waste and minimise our impact on mother nature. Register here.

We believe small actions drive BIG change. So while one garage sale on its own won’t make much difference, when hundreds of thousands of Australians get together in streets, community centres and schools to buy, sell and reuse at garage sales over a weekend… well, that’s a whole lotta difference.

Garage Sale Trail happens with the support of 146 Council partners and more than 400,000 bargain hunting, reuse loving Australians -who this year will shop and sell at more than 15,000 garage sales Australia-wide

Every garage sale has a unique name and its own sale page that provides clues to who's involved, what’s on offer and anything else that’s going down. Likewise, shoppers can search for sales, items of interest and make your own Trail of favourite sales to checkout.

Best GRIN idea

Enter our GReen Innovation ideas competition. It's not really a competition but we are interested in hearing from you with your best Green Innovation idea. Where possible we'll even see if we can implement or pass on the winning ideas. Let's be creative about the solutions for our Planet!

For future event updates, check this and What's On page and be sure follow us on facebook and twitter for more useful tips.

Best Gift in the World campaign

A Gift that won't cost the Earth! is all about considering the environment when you do your gift shopping; whether it be for Christmas or for other significant celebrations throughout the year.

The Best Gift Market is an extension of Sustainability’s, Sustaining our City annual campaign called the Best Gift in the World where we encourage our community to be mindful at Christmas time with considering packaging, thinking about the amounts of food we prepare and food wasted around this time of year and considering gift items that benefit would the environment. Did you know, of the $50 billion that is spent by Australians around Christmas, approximately $700 million is expected to go to landfill by the following February.

Randwick Council is working to help communities reduce our overall impact on the environment. The gift ideas on Best Gift in the World website are aimed at encouraging meaningful gift purchases for your household during the festive season and beyond.

Why not consider one of these unique ‘green’ gift ideas and give the best gift in the world a chance. 

In 2019 sustainability team has worked on the project of a local Best Gift sustainable Christmas Market. This project was developed and implemented as a means of making the ‘best gift in the world’ more tangible and local for residents and local businesses. The purpose was to extend the best gift Christmas ideas into an opportunity for local artisans, artists, producers and businesses to reach eastern suburbs residents with locally made, designed and produced, sustainable or environmentally friendly goods ahead of the Christmas rush. 2020 Best Gift Market event has been canceled, to cut the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Randwick City Council is committed to engaging with our local business community. Small businesses are the backbone of Australia's economy, representing 96 percent of all businesses in the country. The Best Gift Market strives to showcase environmental and unique designers and producers, in art, design and fashion that supports new and emerging designers and business people.

NOTE: This year we not able to vet all stallholders against sustainable criteria, as we promoting those stallholders based on last year's criteria. To see stallholders that attended Best Gift Market last year - click here.

5 Ways to have a Sustainable Christmas

The festive season is right around the corner and Randwick City locals are preparing to celebrate Christmas with their loved ones.But amongst all of this Christmas cheer it’s easy to forget about the impact this time of year can have on our earth.Did you know, of the $50 billion that is spent by Australians around Christmas, approximately $700 million is expected to go to landfill by the following February?

Randwick Council is working to help communities reduce our impact on the environment. So we’ve thought up some not-so-silly tips to help you and your loved ones celebrate the silly season sustainably. (Say that five times fast!)

1. Get creative with gift wrap

Australians use a whopping 8,000 tons of wrapping paper every year and often it’s the plastic kind that takes years to break down. This Christmas, think outside the box and get creative with how you wrap your gifts. If you’ve got small kids, it’s likely your home is filled with their artistic creations. Use their lovely artwork as wrapping paper and tie them up with twine. No children in the house? ‘Furoshiki’ is the Japanese art of wrapping gifts in fabric. The receiver also gets to keep the fabric, so choose something that’s part of the gift, such as a scarf, table cloth, t-shirt or beach towel.

2. Give experiences, not things

You’ve probably heard it before, but filling someone’s stockings with experiences is not only a great way to reduce what goes into landfill, but it also creates memories that last. If tickets to an event aren’t possible, make your own voucher that can be cashed in on throughout the year. It might be for brunch at a local café or meeting for a drink after work. For kids, the voucher might be to ‘build the best-ever cushion fort’ or ‘a family games night’.

3. Shop locally

Christmas is a wonderful time to get a little closer to your community and support small businesses in your area. Randwick City is bursting with independent businesses, producers and artisans that would love to help you make this Christmas one to remember. Pick up your Christmas ham from your local butcher or buy a thoughtful gift at the markets. Shopping your Christmas feast at the local markets means you’re cutting down on the food miles your food has travelled, which is great for the environment. Plus, buying local is a sure-fire way to get on Santa’s ‘nice’ list – just don’t forget your own shopping bags!

4. Get real

There is always a debate around whether to have a fake or real tree, and there are pros and cons to both. However, in terms of our environment, a real tree is the better choice. Fake trees are usually made of plastic and they’re not recyclable. Eventually they end up in the landfill and they don’t break down. A real tree on the other hand, can be discarded with your organic garden matter. And as a cherry-on-top, Randwick City Council will pick up your real trees for you – just leave them on your kerb on the first green waste collection day of 2019. If you're not sure when that is, check our waste and pickup dates map where you can type in your address and easily find your zone.

5. Dispose of your garbage properly!

On Christmas morning, you’re bound to be left with wrapping paper, boxes and plenty of rubbish. Take the time to dispose of it properly – recycle what you’re able to and put the rest in your red bin. If your wrapping paper is paper – and not foil or plastic, it can go in your recycle bin. We know this time of year can mean extra garbage, so if you’re overflowing you can drop off recyclables at our recycling centre in Matraville. Just check the opening hours. At the centre, we’re also able to accept a number of other recyclable items that we can’t collect through the yellow bins, such a polystyrene and soft plastics.

Celebrating Biodiversity 

9:00AM - 1:00PM

RANDWICK COUNCIL COMMUNITY NURSERY, 2B BARKER STREET KINGSFORD

• native and exotic plant sale
• bee and insect-friendly garden advice
• Aboriginal food and medicine plants
• potting compost, mulch and vegie seeds
• urban beekeeping workshop 10am – 11.30am Book Now!

What if there were no plants, trees, birds, insects, water, air or soil? In our busy daily lives we sometimes forget the many essential services provided by our natural world and how these services protect our health, provide endless enjoyment and are our planets first line of defence against climate change.

On Saturday 24 March join your community in celebrating and appreciating the important things that keep us alive. From 9am – 1pm at Randwick Community Nursery you’ll find out which local plants attract bees and other small critters to keep your garden healthy and easy to maintain, purchase native plants best suited to the climate of the Eastern Suburbs, and learn how to keep bees with our urban beekeeping workshop (bookings essential).

Earth Hour

Saturday 28 March 2020 @ 8.30pm

In light of the ongoing health crisis as a result of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, the Earth Hour global organising team recommends all individuals to participate in Earth Hour virtually this year, for public health and safety.

Every year, since 2007, Earth Hour has been celebrated across the globe with the one iconic action of switching off the lights. But as we know, Earth Hour is so much more than that. It is a symbol of unity and hope. It is a symbol of power in collective action for the planet and our world communities.

Here's 20 things you can do at home or online this Earth Hour to spend the time reflecting on our world and our planet.

Share your Earth Hour experience by using the hashtag #EarthHour. Also you can tag @EarthHourOfficial on Instagram, @EarthHour on Facebook and @EarthHour on Twitter to share your posts and stories.

HERE’S OTHER WAYS YOU CAN GET INVOLVED:

• #SwitchOff for Earth Hour and register your participation
• send your logo to include on the pledge wall to call for strong climate action
• take part in the Earth Hour Solar Light Challenge
• learn how to turn your garden into a haven for local native wildlife

By early next year, Randwick Council will be saving $350,000 and 3,000 tonnes of greenhouse emissions per year through:

• 4,200 energy efficient street-lighting upgrades
• switching to LED lights in all Council buildings
• air conditioning upgrades at Council's Admin building
• 200kW of rooftop solar across 14 Council buildings
• sourcing 20% of Councils electricity from the Moree Solar

Learn about Randwick City’s energy saving incentives here.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. In 2020, Earth Hour has grown into a global sustainability movement with more than 7,000 cities in over 180 countries take part.

International Permaculture Day

IT'S INTERNATIONAL PERMACULTURE DAY again at Randwick Sustainability Hub and this year we're buzzing with bees with apiarist, Doug Purdie, and learning to save seeds with horticulturalist, Jon Kingston.

We'll take a look at energy and water-efficient renovation and building materials with solar-specialist architect, Terry Bail, and, after you renovate or build, how to creatively declutter your home and your life with domestic-life-design specialist, Cecilia Macaulay.

When it comes to the surplus from our garden or those possessions you no longer use, Annette Loudon will show us how to run a community swap party to exchange what we no longer need for those things we really could use and prevent them adding to our landfills.

Join us for International Permaculture Day...

... of workshops and tours of the Permaculture Interpretive garden and the community centre's energy and water efficiency retrofits, the classroom, made largely of reused and recycled building materials, the reedbed toilet, balcony garden display area as well as the honey bee trail and the wild food and habitat trails.

WHEN: Saturday 4 May 2019
TIME: 1:30pm-5:00pm
WHERE: Randwick Community Centre, 27 Munda Street, Randwick.
CONTACT: julian.lee@randwick.nsw.gov.au

Program

Arrive at 1:20pm for a 1:30pm start to workshops

1:30pm - 3:00pm — workshops

• Energy and water trail tour with architect, Terry Bail.
• Seed Saving with horticulturalist, Jon Kingston
• Honey bee trail workshop/tour with Doug Purdie
• Declutter your life using Permaculture Principles with Cecilia Macaulay
• The Sharing Economy using Permaculture Principles with Annette Loudon

3:00pm — Join us for a cuppa and a chat in our timber classroom made mostly of repurposed materials

3:30 - 5:00pm...

• Repeat of workshops.

Bookings essential

Book through Eventbrite booking system.

World Environment Day

5 June 2020

Each year, nations around the globe coordinate their efforts to celebrate and recognise the important job done by the natural environment for all living creatures!

The celebration of World Environment Day (WED) occurs on June 5 each year under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program. Randwick Council is doing its part for World Environment Day by coordinating and supporting an eclectic mix of events and activities in support of and/ or with a diverse mix of community partners.

Best Gift Market 

Sunday 17 November 2019

Start your Christmas shopping early at this environmentally-friendly stocking filler winner at Coogee Beach

More than 200 stallholders will have their original work for sale. They include interesting ceramics, handmade glass gifts, original fashion, clothing, blankets, knitted and wooden toys for babies and children, amazing jewellery, plants, swimwear, unique homewares and much more.

The Best Gift Market is a new Christmas event showcasing local, handmade, sustainable and ethical products. There will be market stalls with artisans and designers showcasing environmental friendly homewares, gifts and products from across the Eastern suburbs and wider Sydney.

Do not miss out on live music, entertainment and activities at our Best Gift Market!

Join us for our Christmas shopping event showcasing local, handmade, sustainable and ethical products.

• Handmade gifts by local artists and designers stalls
• Live music, entertainment and activities
• Suitcase Rummage (old fashioned quality car-boot sale)
• Multicultural food stalls
• Fresh native Christmas trees and plats
• Photos with Green Santa
• Craft and sustainability workshops – BookNow!

ADULT WORKSHOPS

• 8am - Yoga by the Sea
• 10am - Nappy Workshop      
• 12pm - Japanese Pastel Art  
• 1:30pm - DIY Beeswax Wrap

CHILDREN WORKSHOPS (Ages 5-13)

• 9:30am - Upcycled 3D Ornament (Ages 5 to 7)
• 10:30am - Japanese Pastel Art (Ages 5 to 13)
• 1:30pm - Upcycled 3D Ornament (Ages 8+)

TODDLERS WORKSHOPS (Ages 2-5)

• 10am - Green Heads (Ages 2 to 5)
• 11am  -  Nature Crowns (Ages 2 to 5)
• 1:30pm - Design Your Own Name (Ages 2 to 5)

DISCLAIMER: Workshop bookings are made through Eventbrite which is an external website. Please read their privacy policy and other disclaimers for how they store and use your information. You are also able to express your interest in attending by phoning 9093 6400 during business hours.

As well as checking out the goods and talking to the stallholders, you can relax and listen to live music.

• Michigan Water band!
• Pet Power (Patou)
• Allan Chapple and much more!

The Best Gift Market is an extension of Sustainability’s, Sustaining our City annual campaign called the Best Gift in the World where we encourage our community to be mindful at Christmas time with considering packaging, thinking about the amounts of food we prepare and food wasted around this time of year and considering gift items that benefit would the environment.

Held only once a year, this is an opportunity not to be missed. Take a look at the highlights from the Best Gift Market 2017!

2017 - BEST GIFT MARKET

Simple money-saving energy hacks at home

With many of us working, studying, and caring for children at home, our electricity bills are set to rise.

Join this free webinar to learn easy ways to save energy and money, while keeping you and your household safe and comfortable. This can apply to both renters and owners.

Learn how to take simple and cost-effective energy-saving actions at home to save money.

• When: Wednesday 6 May, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
• Where: Online, anywhere (Via Zoom - registered attendees will be sent a link prior)
• Register: Jump online

If you can’t make the session, the webinar will be available online and you can also learn more about all the things you can do at aef.com.au or call 1300 23 68 55.

Electric Vehicles - ask the expert

Are you interested in learning about electric vehicles? Join our webinar to answer the most common questions asked about electric vehicles. You will hear from electric vehicle enthusiasts and experts including Michael Day from the Australian Electric Vehicle Association and Alexandra Kelly from the Electric Vehicle Council.

• When: Wednesday 19 May, 6:00 pm – 7:15 pm
• Where: Online, anywhere (Via Zoom - registered attendees will be sent a link prior)
• Register: Jump online

Speed date a Sustainability expert

Join this free webinar for a fun and informative afternoon where you'll receive free personalised advice from leading sustainable architects, designers and sustainability experts.

Are you renovating or building and looking for environmentally friendly options? Thinking about solar power or solar hot water? Redesigning your garden or wanting to create a rooftop garden? Get advice and tips from Australia’s leading green architects and experts on energy efficient products, solar, green roofs and more at Speed Date a Sustainable Expert.

• When: Wednesday 6 June,
• Where: Online, anywhere (Via Zoom - registered attendees will be sent a link prior)
• Register: Jump online

Randwick City Council in partnership with Renew (formerly ATA) presents Speed Date a Sustainability Expert.

Sustainable House Day

Tap into Local knowledge on Sustainable living — venue to be determined soon.

Open the door to sustainable living by touring our little house of sustainability, Barrett House, at 6 Barrett Place, Randwick and the Randwick Sustainability Hub at Randwick Community Centre.

Barrett House will open its doors to the public so people can see all the different sustainability features and learn how to successfully integrate renewable energy, recycling, and other sustainable practices into your home and lifestyle. The designer of Barrett House, Terry Bail (Archology) will be on hand to answer any questions and our sustainability team from Council will be hand to run 10 min tours of the Barrett House.

This unique event is a valuable resource for anyone looking for inspiration, ideas and the key to sustainable living.

Find out more...

For future event updates, check this page and be sure follow us on facebook and twitter for more useful tips.

National Tree Day

Tree plantings at Council sites (includes Schools Tree Day)

Planet Ark is celebrating 20 years of planting trees and urging Australians to volunteer for National Tree Day on Sunday 28 July and Schools Tree Day on Friday 26 July.  

By taking part in National Tree Day, you will be contributing to Australia's largest community tree planting and nature-care event and joining thousands of individuals in making a difference, connecting people with nature, beautifying neighbourhoods and inspiring positive environmental change.

For future event updates, check this and What's On page and be sure follow us on facebook and twitter for more useful tips.

Celebrate World Oceans Day

June 2020

This World Oceans Day we’re celebrating protecting our oceans and beaches by finding solutions to ocean plastic pollution.

Take our Ocean Action Quiz! to find out how we can keep our oceans healthy.

Win! Tell us in 25 words what you do to help the ocean to win a fantastic A3 digital poster called 'How does plastic end up in the ocean?' valued at $14.
Email sustainability@randwick.nsw.gov.au with your answers. Entries close Sunday 14 June.

World Oceans Day is about connecting people around our blue planet to celebrate and honour our majestic oceans.

Watch the Ocean Action Pod 'World Oceans Day' video

All too often we hear stories about marine animals being harmed by ocean pollution. We see upsetting images of turtles and seals caught in plastic nets, birds feeding their young tiny pieces of plastic, thinking they are food and see our own beaches littered with rubbish.

We know that around 8 million tonnes of plastic goes into our oceans every year, which is equivalent to 16 shopping bags full of plastic for every metre of coastline in the world. And guess what, every single piece of that plastic is still there, it doesn’t go away! It just gets smaller and smaller till we can’t see it anymore. The ocean is now awash with trillions upon trillions of microscopic plastic particles.

This World Oceans Day, take action on ocean plastic pollution. We need our oceans to be healthy and safe for all:

• use reusable bottles. Remember to refill, not landfill
• say goodbye to single use plastics and hello BYO! - bring your own reusable straw cup bag and spoon
• put rubbish in the bin
• Take 3 for the sea.

Find more information at Ocean Action Pod including educational resources.