New Chippo group supports Sustainable Streets Plan

A new group has been set up to support the City Council’s Sustainable Streets and Community Plan. Called, Sustainable Chippendale, the idea for the group and the moving force behind it are Andrew Jacobs and Thais Nascimento.  They’ve set up a Facebook page and say this is how to find and join the group or obtain information there: - The link is: www.facebook.com… , but if you go on Facebook and just look up for SUSTAINABLE CHIPPENDALE , you will see us and... Read More

Compost works wonders with Council support

Here’s a success story.  At its heart is a partnership between local councils and their communities. The three council ‘Compost Revolution’ Three adjoining Sydney Councils (Waverley, Woollahra and Randwick) combined to share resources and a state government grant, part of which was used for a project called, The Compost Revolution.  Here is a summary of the project by Waverley Council’s Food Waste Reduction Officer, Lauren Michener: “The Compost Revolution was... Read More

Food is the second biggest greenhouse polluter after power stations

This quote from the NSW EPA helps to explain why we’re growing food where we live and work in Chippendale: ‘In Australia, the food supply chain is responsible for approximately 23 per cent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second-highest emissions generating activity after power stations. This includes direct emissions from agriculture, and those attributed to energy, transport, food production, processing and distribution.” NSW EPA www.lovefoodhatewaste.nsw.gov….au/love-food/environmental-impacts.aspx  Read More

Chippo Garden & Compost Workshop Wed 23 March

On Wednesday 23 March – next week – Sydney City Council will hold a workshop about composting and gardening in Chippendale. Commencing at 630 and finishing at 8 pm at the Pine Street Creative Arts Centre, the workshop will enable each participant to express their ideas and opinions and to offer criticisms and to ask questions. The information from the workshop will be used to develop the Sustainable Streets and Communities Plan being prepared for Chippendale by the... Read More

Compost Cocktails

Just when you thought your social life needed a pick-me-up along comes Waverley Council with Compost Cocktails. They sound like just the thing to spice up your life. Waverley Council are making Compost Week a big focus in May and are holding neighbourhood workshops, having a Compost Cocktail ( network social night), a cooking with leftovers workshop, compost themed movie night and a few other things. For more info: www.reduceyourfootprint.com….au NOTE: for some reason... Read More

Peace Park compost bins on hold

The seven compost bins in Peace Park have been sealed up as they are full and the mix of compost is causing cockroaches. We’re removing the compost and will shortly put in some boric acid to kill the cockroaches. When the cockies are gone we’ll restart the bins. In the meantime Council is organising some community compost workshops to provide education and guidance on using the bins so we increase the level of understanding and improve the use of the bins. I’ll... Read More

Beaut doco on waste solutions – free screening

WASTE NOT you are invited………final pdf At 4 pm, 7 April Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP will launch the 26 minute documentary, Waste not, produced by the Total Environment Centre. The screening is free, at NSW Parliament House, Macquarie Street. The flier and form above includes this description of the doco: What keeps a 21st Century metropolis like Sydney clean and sparkling? Even as we hover on the brink of a monumental ecocatastrophe, an army of truck drivers, scientists,... Read More

The art of being grave

Hidden sculpture walk, Rookwood A friend and artist, Ro Murray, has sent me this invitation to the opening of an art exhibition called, “Hidden”, at Rookwood, Sydney’s major cemetery. What’s interesting about it to me are the hours: from “sunrise to sunset”. Those words got me thinking. This reminds me of a friend I had (once) who mused aloud to me (once) that she gave up drink when she woke up one morning draped across a chookshed roof. I... Read More

New painted compost bin – tra la!

New painted compost bin Some frogs are on top of the leaves, some under them - look closely . . . A local artist who doesn’t wish to be named has donated paints and materials and her skills to paint a new Aerobin donated by the manufacturer.  Read More

How to keep your compost from smelling

Compostworm instructions Seven compost bins in Peace Park, one for each day of the week A key tool we use to keep compost in our road compost bins from smelling is to turn it at least once a week with an augur. It’s called a ‘Compost Worm”.  The how-to-use for it is with this post. It’s a metal thing with a screw shaped end that we dig in and rotate around the sides of the bins to bring up the wetter material from the lower part of the compost pile and... Read More