At our last Council meeting, our annual Environmental and Sustainability Review and Scorecard was revealed, providing insight into how we as a community impact our environment and how we can improve our sustainability measures in the future.
The full document can be found on page 7 in our last agenda here, but I thought I’d share some highlights with you all on here.
First of all, we’ve reduced our carbon emissions by 26% from last year! That’s an amazing reduction for such a short period of time, which occurred for a variety of reasons:
1. Changing our streetlights to run on LED bulbs led to a decrease of 497 tonnes of carbon emissions, accounting for roughly 75% of our decrease in emissions. This seemingly simple change highlights (pun intended) just how impactful the tiniest of changes can make in terms of reducing our carbon footprint, not only that we are some $400,000 better off a year.
2. The COVID-19 pandemic brought the entire state to a standstill, including the city of Burnside. Closures of public service buildings like the Swimming Centre and Regal Theatre accounted for approximately 15% of our decrease, while Council staff working from home meant that the Civic Centre and the Glynburn Road Depot had reduced their energy consumption, accounting for an estimated further 10% of the decrease.
3. State-wide energy reduction efforts accounted for approximately 1% of the decrease. While this number is modest, it is expected that over a number of years, the impact of state energy emissions factors will increase over the years and become a larger role in carbon reductions. The was a time in October, where for the first time ever South Australia was powered only by renewable energy (it lasted about an hour, but its a good start). While this has little to do with Council actions, it reiterates the importance of Council to continue advocating to both State and Federal governments to prioritise pro-environmental policies.
In terms of waste reduction, the numbers are, admittedly, less impressive,but it’s still a start. Landfill only saw 2% decrease, most of which was seen in the first half of the year before COVID restrictions forced many residents to work from home.
Similarly, the increase in organic waste was only 5%. Part of this was perhaps due to people spending more time in their gardens as well as a focus on utilising organic materials where possible, but the other factor comes from an above-average rainfall in the second half of the year, causing organic waste to get wet and weigh more. Recyclables also saw a 1% increase from last year. The decrease in landfill and increase in organic and recyclable waste shows an overall positive shift from our community for more environmentally-friendly options in our lives, but there is still clearly work to be done.
Water usage has also been a hot topic in sustainability conversations. This year, we saw an 11% increase in water usage; however, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Keeping the Burnside flora hydrated and lush has many environmental benefits, including cooling down urban areas. However, it is still important to improve the sustainability of our water sources.
Working on managing storm, ground, waste, and mains water will have to factor in future plans, and Council will have to discuss how to improve water storage in general so that this precious resource doesn’t go to waste down the gutters. The Kensington Gardens Reserves wetland development as well as the Glenside Detention Basin upgrade are both projects undertaken by the Council that should dramatically improve our stormwater usage, for example, and will set the stage for future large scale developments in the future.
We also made outstanding strides in relation to Council vegetation, with over 1500 trees planted on Council land and, roughly, an overall 11,000 plants were utilised in public and private planting programs. We’ve also focused on creating measures to preserve the natural biodiversity in many of our reserves. These measures include better weed management, a greater emphasis on maintaining Indigenous plant health, and ensuring that our creeklines are looked after, to name a few.
Overall, we’ve started to make significant strides in making our City more sustainable for the future; however, there is still work to be done to make the City more livable for future generations. Promotion of using recyclable and organic products, for example, will help us reduce our reliance on hard waste. We also need to increase community awareness about the impact of which bin they place their rubbish in - even just one non-recyclable can contaminate a whole recycling bin, forcing it all to go to landfill regardless. Furthermore, even contaminating the landfill bins with organics can lead to increased methane levels that can devastate the atmosphere. It is essential to educate our residents on the importance of proper waste bin usage in order to reduce our carbon footprint.
Greater education within the community can also encourage residents to think more carefully about their water usage and Council will also need to look at improving our water storage options - one suggestion made in the report was installing some rainwater tanks, which we can look into. As a Council, we can also look at programs to get the whole community involved with conservation efforts. For example, implementing a tree adoption program will not only significantly boost the number of trees being planted in our City, but will also provide a perfect opportunity for our residents to directly contribute to our sustainability efforts and can promote the education of plant care and water usage.
Ultimately, our achievements this year are worth celebrating - again, a 26% drop in carbon emissions is a huge achievement! However, we also have to recognise the areas where we need to improve upon, and this report has provided us with essential information that we can use going forward. We need to work together as a whole community to make our environment a better place for all.
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