Community Sustainable Opportunities

City of Parramatta invites local community organisations, social enterprises and schools to join us in our Reuse Community, sharing and re-using items no longer needed. 

As a subscriber to Warp-It along with Council, you can browse the catalogue, claim your FREE item/s, and arrange collections. Items already in the marketplace include office stationery and equipment, craft supplies, storage cabinets, white boards and office furniture. The items will have a 7 day internal listing for Council office use, after which items will be accessible to you through our Reuse Community.

To join our Warp-It Reuse Community please register here.

For more information please contact the Sustainability team on enviroed@cityofparramatta.nsw.gou.au or 9806 8292.

Get into Nature is a series of Council workshops, guided walks and events designed to connect people with their natural surroundings.

The Get into Nature events are run by Council’s Bushcare Team allowing local residents and visitors to experience the amazing plants and animals in Parramatta’s bushland reserves in a safe,  friendly and engaging way.

Details on upcoming events can be found on our Liveable Parramatta Facebook page.

Not on Facebook? Please contact Council’s Bushcare Team for more details:

Phone: (02) 9806 8280

Email: bushcare@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au 

Please not that these events are highly popular and places are strictly limited, so please register to avoid disappointment.

Developed following years of research and successful pilots, the ClimateClever platform brings together the most effective components to create an innovative, data-driven App, consisting of three interactive online tools. The App enables schools, businesses, and residents, to: 

• easily calculate and track their carbon footprint; 
• conduct an audit of their buildings; and 
• create personalised action plans to reduce consumption, costs, and carbon emissions across all utilities (electricity, gas, water and waste)

Free Home Energy Assessments – Back by popular demand.

Did you know that good insulation can cut your winter heating bills by up to 40%? If your home was insulated before 2010, chances are it either doesn’t have enough insulation or it’s been moved out of place by contractors such as electricians.

Council is once again offering Free Home Energy Assessments by a qualified electrician. The assessment will take between 30-40mins and you’ll get a full evaluation report, as well as personalised advice on how to improve the energy efficiency.

Bookings for this first round of 20 assessments can be made to enviroed@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au until Sunday 18th June 2023.

Have you noticed food prices continuing to go up? Have you considered growing some of your own food?

To help you get started, City of Parramatta is supporting the GOOF series again this Autumn.

GOOF – Grow Our Own Food – is a 5-week, online workshop series based on nature’s cycles. The series is presented by knowledgeable Northmead locals who practise the ethics and principles of permaculture in their own homes. You will learn how to preserve and ferment your food, how to care for your plants, live more resiliently and responsibly by growing food all year long!
 

In our built-up urban environments, balconies and small gardens can play an important role in providing habitat for wildlife.

Learn how to turn your small space into a vibrant habitat through the use of flowers, water and shelter to attract birds, pollinating insects, micro bats and more.

A recording of the City of Parramatta’s Balconies for Biodiversity workshop, hosted by Sustainable Gardening Australia, is available to watch until 31st May.
 

A program that encourages residents to learn about native gardening and how improving local biodiversity helps pollinators, especially native stingless bees. Participants also learn how to build hives and split them for regeneration each year.

Naturally, native bees live in tree hollows, branches, or natural overhangs. Much of their habitat is lost in our suburbs and combined with the increase in herbicide and pesticide use, they are in decline. Having native bees in your garden greatly improves the health of your garden and improves the yields of your veggie patch.

Through this program, we will offer you different opportunities to hear from speakers from universities and from industry, as well as existing hosts who are keen to share their experiences. Residents will also learn how to build hives and how to split them for regeneration each year and become part of a growing network of hive hosts.

To be eligible for this program we ask for a commitment to eliminate pesticide and herbicide use on individual properties. It is also encouraged to plant more native species whenever possible and Council will offer native plant seedlings throughout the year to improve property biodiversity.

Each year the existing hives will be split. Depending on availability these could be offered as opportunity to become a host for a live-working native beehive.

Program currently full - wait list available

Join the contact list by emailing your name, address, contact number to enviroed@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au or call 02 9806 8292.

Sunday 9th October, 9:30-11am at Burnside Gardens Community Centre, 3 Blackwood Place, Oatlands.

https://www.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/living/booking-a-venue/burnside-gardens-community-centre

Close to bus stops on Pennant Hills road or parking onsite.

Introduction to City of Parramatta’s Hive & Seek Program. Come along and learn about our program and how you can encourage native bees into your garden. 

Learn about the latest research in Native Stingless Bees.
Have you taken the chance to look at nature recently? Caitlyn Forster is a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney studying pollinator behaviour. She will be speaking about stingless bee and honey bee pick flowers, and how you can appreciate the pollinators in your garden.

Save Power Kits for loan

The Save Power Kits includes power monitoring equipment to help you identify where you are using power and where you can be saving power (and reducing your greenhouse gas emissions).

There are two types of kit you can borrow:

Save Power kit contains range of practical tools including a power monitor to work out how much power your appliances are using, an infrared thermometer to check for drafts and a thermometer to test heating and cooling as well as a stopwatch and compass

Power Mate kit has a single energy meter to measure how much energy your appliances use. It can also tell you how much your electricity costs for each appliance. Even when an appliance is on standby it can draw power, adding extra costs to bills unnecessarily.

Kits are available to adult library members for 1 week and must be returned in person.

A program to help people save power and money is now available for loan at City of Parramatta Library and its branches as part of the NSW Government’s Home Energy Action Program.

This program supports a network of local schools and community groups to collect and share heirloom organic seeds to create a self-sufficient seed bank which decreases the need to purchase commercial seedlings each season.

Through this network, Council provides free seedlings for local primary schools for their food gardens, as well as free training in seed harvesting and storage.

To find out more details or to register please contact Council’s Sustainability & Waste Team:

Phone: (02) 9806 8292

Email: enviroed@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au

The Compost Revolution program is a fun way to learn about composting and worm farming from the comfort of your own home.

People from all over Australia are joining the revolution and finding out how to create their own soil and fertiliser while reducing the rubbish they send to landfill.

First step is to complete the quick tutorial to learn about how to use and look after a worm farm or compost bins. Then you can claim your discounted worm farm and compost bin. Council will then approve the order and your items will be delivered to your door within a few weeks.

Can't get solar panels on your roof because you're renting, moving, or it's just too shady? 
We hear you! So, we are on a mission to bring you as many options as possible to ensure you can choose renewable energy and get the savings.

Join us for a free webinar hosted by Haystacks Solar Garden on Thursday 1st December from 7pm. 
You'll learn how you can invest in a solar panel system of your very own - just not on your roof.
 

Moving towards a more plant-based diet is one of the best decisions you can make for the environment and the lives of animals. A plant-based diet can also give you all the nutrients you need to be healthy. It can lower your chances of developing health problems, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Fiona's plant-based eating workshop will help you learn how you can make a plant-based diet work for you with practical nutrition tips and advice. 

a.    3rd Eco-friendly eating: Thursday 3rd November
b.    10th Food waste: Thursday 10th November
c.    19th Meal planning: Saturday 19th November
d.    3rd December: Shop sustainably

The Garage Sale Trail is a great way to make or save money by buying or selling your pre-loved stuff, whilst also minimising your impact on the planet.

As an Australia wide initiative there are numerous ways to be involved in the Garage Sale Trail both online and in the real world. This year's event looks set to be bigger than ever so expect heaps of money making, treasure hunting and planet saving fun.

Garage Sale Trail happens with the support of local council partners across the country and over ten years has grown to a nationwide event which sees over 3.5 million kg of items sold and saved from landfill.

Every garage sale has a unique style and gets a sale page that provides clues to who's involved, what’s on offer and anything else that’s going down. It’s like a treasure map to second hand greatness. Likewise, shoppers can search for sales, items of interest and make their own Trail of favourite sales to checkout.

Registrations open September 2021.