Community environmental projects are now taking place in 11 NSW regions thanks to the flow on effect of environmental education provided under the Sustaining Eco-friendly Communities project.

Coordinated by The Department of Environment and Conservation NSW in partnership with the Local Community Services Association (LCSA), the project has been focused on increasing the capacity of Neighbourhood Centre staff and volunteers to facilitate learning and action in living and working sustainably.

Neighbourhood Centres involved in the project are now spreading their newfound knowledge to their communities through locally designed and managed projects.

Two newly funded projects include:

• Liverpool Region
  
  The Liverpool and Fairfield local government areas will host 10 eco-friendly workshops to concentrate on the three main areas of water, energy and waste reduction.
  
  Participants will have opportunities to gain hands-on experience in:

  • Making chemical free cleaning products, with take home samples
  • Making garden compost and chemical free pesticides
  • Take home information on how to easily and effectively reduce water use
  • Take home compact fluorescents and other sample products

  The project aims to reach over 300 households across the Liverpool and Fairfield areas. In addition, the Centres will offer ongoing group support for eco-friendly sustainability topics.

• South West Sydney
  
  This new project will conduct 10 workshops across the Canterbury and Bankstown local government areas, specifically targeting the CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) community. Participants will gain hands-on experience in reducing waste, energy use and chemical use.

  Councils in the two areas are partners in the workshops and will provide resources such as calico bags. There are also plans to partner with Neighbourhood Centres in the Blacktown area to develop a DVD on water and energy saving for Arabic speaking women, as well as a water saving project for gardens in Western NSW.

Updated Resource Kit

The Sustaining Eco-friendly Communities project has also updated and reprinted its Resource Kit, which now include guides on running community workshops on waste reduction and reducing water use, energy use and chemicals.

For further information on how you can get involved with these projects contact Meg Bishop, Project Officer LCSA on (02) 4441 8885 or 0418 676 879.

The kit can be downloaded from the Livingthing website or www.lcsa.org.au

>> More info - livingthing.net.au