Synergy and Zoning

Not only is it important to plant the right plants at the right time, but it is essential that they are planted in the right place! Imagine you are cooking dinner and could really use some fresh rosemary to add to your dish, but you planted this way up the back of your yard. Wouldn’t it have been handier to have this right at your back door?

Considering the types of veggies, fruit trees, compost, worm farms, and animals that you want to have in your yard and the level of management required to maintain each of them is really important in establishing a harmonious and prosperous food garden. Designing your garden so that elements you will use or visit roughly the same amount are placed near each other will make your garden more user-friendly and efficient and allow for these elements to interact in helpful ways.

By placing herbs and other easy to pick plants near your back door, this will encourage you to add them to your meal, while fruit trees or large composting systems can be situated further down the yard. It is also handy to have smaller compost bins close to veggie gardens so you can easily spread your compost.

The following zones may be useful to consider when planning and designing your garden:

• Stage 1: Identify the scope of the CMP
• Stage 2: Determine risks, vulnerabilities, and opportunities
• Stage 3: Identify and evaluate options
• Stage 4: Prepare, exhibit, finalise, certify, and adopt the CMP
• Stage 5: Implement, monitor, evaluate and report

Thousands of families will soon be able to cut their energy bills with solar and home appliance upgrades, thanks to a $128 million Energy Bill Buster program in the 2022-23 NSW Budget. 

Eligible households can apply to get a free solar system that can save you up to $600 each year, instead of the annual $285 Low Income Household Rebate. 

“People living in apartments or renting who can’t have solar installed may be eligible to swap their rebate for a suite of energy saving appliance upgrades, helping to reduce demand on the grid and lower power prices for everyone,” Treasurer Matt Kean said. 

“These include energy efficient fridges, dryers, air-conditioners and hot water systems, and upgrades such as window shading and draught sealing valued at up to $4,000.” 

The Energy Bill Buster program follows the NSW Government’s recent announcement to increase the number of vouchers available under the Energy Accounts Payment Assistance scheme by 25 per cent to $400 per transaction for households struggling to pay their electricity and gas bills. 

The 2022-23 Budget includes funding to initially help up to 30,000 households under the program, with further funding to be considered based on uptake.  

The Energy Bill Buster program replaces the Empowering Homes pilot, following a program evaluation. Applications for the Empowering Homes pilot will close on 31 July 2022. 
 
Find out more and register for the Energy Bill Buster program 

Read the full article here

World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought was on Friday 17th June. This year’s theme was ‘Rising Up From Drought Together’, emphasising the need for early action to avoid disastrous consequences for humanity and the planet’s ecosystems.

Droughts are among the greatest threats to sustainable development, especially in developing countries but increasingly so in developed nations too. Forecasts estimate that by 2050 droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world’s population.

The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29% since 2000, as compared to the two previous decades. When more than 2.3 billion people already face water stress, this is a huge problem. More and more of us will be living in areas with extreme water shortages, including an estimated one in four children by 2040.

Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations. It occurs because dryland ecosystems, which cover over one third of the world’s land area, are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and inappropriate land use. When the land degrades and stops being productive, natural spaces deteriorate and transform. Thus, greenhouse gas emissions increase and biodiversity decreases. It also means there are fewer wild spaces to buffer zoonoses, such as COVID-19, and protect us from extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and sand and dust storms.

Did you know: 

• Since 2000, the number and duration of droughts has risen 29%? 

• An estimated 55 million people globally are directly affected by droughts every year 

• By 2050, droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world’s population 

For more information, visit the United Nations website.  

In this cold weather, isn’t it great to get into a nice warm bed each night? That moment when your head finally hits the pillow – bliss! But wait, have you given your pillow much thought lately? Do you replace your pillows regularly? We’ve all heard that we should regularly replace our pillows, but what do we do with our old pillows? They take up a huge amount of space in our bins and end up in landfill where they can damage our environment and take years to break down.

• Using them as a floor, gardening, or knee pillows
• Making a pet bed
• Use them as packing or moving materials to protect breakable items
• Repurpose them as draft stoppers
• Compost any organic chemical-free fillings
• Use the stuffing to fluff up old pillows or beanbags
• Crafts & Hobbies: Do you have a creative edge? Remove the stuffing from the inside of a pillow and reuse it in your next project. If the outer layer of fabric is clean and spot-free, you can use that too!

You can recycle many common household items including cardboard, paper, steel cans, rigid plastic containers and glass bottles and jars in your yellow top bin which is collected fortnightly. But there are some common household items that cannot be recycled in your yellow bin at home but can be recycled at Council’s Community Recycling Centre at Kembla Grange. 

This includes items such as gas bottles, paint, fluoro globes, oils, household and car batteries, mobile phones, cardboard and paper, e-waste, fridges and freezers, scrap metal and mixed recyclables. Plastic bags are not accepted in your regular recycling bin, these will contaminate the recycling process.

Items must be in household quantities; except for fridges and freezers, items should be no larger than 20kg or 20 litres.
 
For more information, please visit the Wollongong Waste recycling webpage here and the Community Recycling Centre webpage here.