Waste and Recycling
The harmful effects of human litter and waste on wildlife in the marine and estuarine environments are recognised as a Key Threatening Process to biodiversity under federal and state legislation. The ingestion of or entanglement in debris such as plastic litter can cause injury and a slow and painful death for wildlife.
The Authority’s pollution control measures prevented approximately to 77tonnes of waste from entering the Park’s waterways during 2019-20:
- 30.5 tonnes of stormwater litter and sediment captured by over 40 gross pollutant separation units
- 6.5 tonnes of floating litter originating upstream of the Park captured by more than 10 floating litter booms
- 40.2 tonnes of waste captured in 76 roadside pits and drains.
Over 600 waste bins and 50 ash cylinders are installed across the Park’s public domain and additional bins are deployed during major events. During 2019-20:
- 294 tonnes of general waste was collected from the public domain, a 27% reduction from 2018-19
- 193 tonnes of waste was collected from sport venues, a 47% reduction from 2018-19.
A five-year Public Space Waste Management Strategy has been developed by the Authority to set high standards and targets for waste diversion from landfill and commence the path towards a circular economy. The Authority is now developing a five-year whole-of-Government waste contract to improve resource recovery rate in the public domain and sports venues.
In addition, the Authority is developing a sustainability awareness program to provide opportunities for sustainability education to the community, residents, workers and visitors of Sydney Olympic Park. This will be done through multiple platforms to improve knowledge and motivation for sustainable living and individual wellbeing.
What can you do to assist in combating litter entering the Park’s Waterways?
If you are determined to prevent litter from entering the Park’s waterways and causing harm to wildlife, you can join community Clean-Up groups in removing litter for Park habitats.
To combat litter at Badu Mangroves, sign up for a Clean Up Program session and assist Park Rangers in collecting litter.
To combat litter at Haslam’s Creek Flats, join War on Waste- Newington and Wentworth Point community group alongside the Authority to pick up litter.
More than 300 hours were donated by volunteers to these combined clean-up events over 2019-20! The Authority greatly appreciates the commitment shown by volunteers and will continue to facilitate these clean up events into the future.
What else can you do to reduce the amount of waste entering the environment?
As a resident of Sydney Olympic Park you can help to reduce the amount of rubbish created each day through simple actions such as choosing the re-usable option:
- Use a re-usable water bottle instead of single-use water bottles. There are over 80 drinking fountains across Sydney Olympic Park that you can use to refill your reusable bottle on the go. See our map for drinking fountain locations
- Say ‘no’ to single-use plastic straws, and if a straw is needed for drinking- use a reusable straw instead
- Say ‘no’ to single-use cutlery, and use a reusable cutlery set
- Use a re-usable bag instead of single-use plastic bags
- Use a re-usable coffee cup instead of single-use coffee cups
- Use a re-usable face mask instead of single use face masks and wash between uses. You can even get crafty and make your own, there are a variety of videos and templates online showing how to make re-usable face masks with filter pockets- if you’re really not much of a sewer, see how easy it can be via the NSW Health factsheet.
For re-usable products check out the ranges conveniently available at online stores!
Dealing with waste responsibility as a resident
Parramatta Council collects and disposes all residential waste from Sydney Olympic Park. If you have any queries or concerns please contact your body corporate or Parramatta Council on 1300 617 058.
As a resident of Sydney Olympic Park, you could choose to reduce the amount of rubbish created each day at home through simple actions:
- Where possible, choose products with no packaging or less packaging.
- Choose items with recyclable packaging and recycle correctly
- Cut rubber bands, string and elastics before putting in your bin. This is to ensure that if these items were to escape into the environment during transport, their presence is less likely to cause harm or fatality to wildlife due to entanglement.
Do you know about REDcycle?
Recycle all of your soft plastics or scrunchable plastics via REDcycle, as these plastics cannot be recycled in your home recycling bin. Soft plastics such as plastic shopping bags are the most lethal plastic killer of ocean animals! Take advantage of the service provided by REDcycle to help reduce the amount of this plastic waste entering our environment.
What can you do with your organic waste?
Use a compost or worm farm at home to process your organic waste.
For discounted composting equipment, see what is available via Compost Revolution.
If you have organic scraps but no compost / worm farm, or need more organic scraps for your compost / worm farm you can sign up to Share Waste and work with people in your community to divert waste from landfill.
Why compost or worm farm?
Household food waste was reported as one of the main generators of food waste in NSW during 2019-20, with an estimated 3.11 Mt produced annually.
When this organic waste is sent to landfill, its decomposition without air generates methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas. Using a well-maintained compost or worm farm at home decomposes these materials with air and reduces our carbon footprint.
It is a convenient way for you to recycle your organic food waste, particularly if your waste collection services do not provide a specific route for organic food waste. Another bonus is that the by-products produced by your compost and worm farms (compost and casting leachate) are fantastic for your balcony gardens and indoor plants.
What can you do with your e-waste?
Don’t throw your e-waste away in the general rubbish bin, it is the fastest-growing component of our municipal solid waste stream and 98% of the components of your old computer or television can be fully recycled! Instead, you can allow these precious resources to be recycled instead of polluting our environment. Take advantage of your local e-waste collection services to recycle the e-waste items listed. Be part of the solution and not the problem and discover the multiple ways you can recycle your e-waste conveniently.
What about chemical or hazardous waste?
Do not throw your chemical or hazardous waste away in the general rubbish bin, tip it down the sink, toilets or gutters, or bury it in the ground as these hazardous wastes can leach into surface or groundwater and pollute communal resources used by plants, animals and humans. They must be disposed of in specifically designed landfills. Illegal disposal and dumping of wastes is a serious offence and subject to large financial penalties. Do the right thing and take advantage of hazardous waste collection services provided to have your gas bottles, fire extinguishers, paint, oils (motor and cooking), fluoro lights and smoke detectors and batteries (car and household batteries) collected and disposed of safely or take it to your local Community Recycling Centre.
Batteries are the most common form of household hazardous waste. They come in many different shapes and forms, with many containing toxic metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium. Sending batteries to landfill will not only pollute our environment but waste valuable resources such as zinc and magnesium. Approximately 95% of battery components can be recycled, so do the right thing and save them for your hazardous waste collection service or find out where you can conveniently dispose of batteries near you.
What about those other waste items that you can’t recycle in your recycling bin?
Ink cartridges including inkjet cartridges, toner cartridges and toner bottles used in printers, photocopiers and fax machines can be recycled conveniently near you. The mix of plastics, metal, inks and toners that make up cartridges can be recycled and reused instead of heading to landfill and polluting our environment.
Don’t send your bread tags to landfill when they can be locally recycled and raise funds to buy wheelchairs for disadvantaged people in South Africa! Learn more about the initative and find collection points near you.
Be part of the Lids 4 Kids community and instead of sending bottle caps to landfill, start collecting them and drop off your bundle of lids at various collection points so that they can be recycled into prosthetic limbs for children.
Hard-to-recycle items such as toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes, stationary, coffee pods, ear plugs, kids toys and pet products (to name a few) can be dropped off at TerraCycle collection points to be recycled into new products and simultaneously divert waste from landfill.
Donate quality unwanted items such as clothes, shoes, household items and furniture to your local second-hand stores or drop off smaller donation items in collection bins- find stores and bins near you!
You can fix broken items by learning how to repair them yourself by booking and attending one of the many workshops at the Bower, local repair cafes or online repair webinars hosted by Inner West Council's Green Living Centre.
Find out about re-usable alternatives to single-use disposable sanitary products.
What else can you do?
Support the second-hand economy to find a bargain and help out the environment by getting familiar with the Op Shop Guide, Parramatta.
To reduce the packaging in your general bin and eliminate common household chemical wastes you can make your own make your own safe cleaning chemicals and beauty products. You can even make your own eco-friendly baby wipes!
Say no to balloons that wreak havoc on our wildlife and make your own personalised re-usable decorations for celebrations instead!
Help recycle our street banners into Bags, whether you are skilled at sewing or want to learn how, join the local community in sewing reusable bags out of street banners otherwise destined for landfill.
Try out Plastic Free July! Have you heard about it? Pledging to take the Plastic Free July challenge can really help guide you to living a single-use plastic free lifestyle. Don’t forget you can start any day of the year!