Longueville compost

Here's a very tasteful corral for the grass clippings in toney Longueville.

This week I'm away enjoying the beauties of the NSW South Coast. And I'm urging you to take a meander around Sydney's streets with 93 year old Alan Waddell, who has set himself the task or walkign every street in Sydney's 227 suburbs! Go one - Walk Sydney Streets with Alan!

Recycling audit

These two women came along our street the other morning. They were conducting an audit of the contents of recycling bins for the council, and leaving educative brochures. They were really friendly and ready to have a chat and help answer questions.

I learned that the polystyrene containers we had been putting in, shouldn't be. This is despite the manufacturers including the little symbol indicating they can be recycled. Apparently they break up all over the place and contaminate the rest of the contents and are too difficult to sift out at the plant. Apart from that, we got a tick of approval!

Chullora: Recycling industry

Today is World Environment Day.

Chullora (an Aboriginal word meaning 'flour', apparently) is a mostly industrial suburb.
Just off Rookwood Rd, in Muir Rd, is the Chullora Waste and Recycling Centre. You can't miss the entrance, with this huge bicycle sculpture, presumably made of waste materials.

The suburb of Chullora was originally part of the area known as Liberty Plains, which was land given to the first free settlers who arrived in Sydney Cove on the 6th January 1793. Chullora was the name used for one of the estates in this area. It used to house large railway workshops.

Whilst still industrial, it is home to a host of new factories and warehouses, including brand new Tip Top bakery, and the printing works of the two major Sydney newspaper groups, Fairfax (publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald and Sun-Herald) and Rupert Murdoch's News Limited (publishers of the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs and The Australian)

How to recycle a cinema: Panania

St Christopher's Roman Catholic church at Panania used to be an art deco (1930s) cinema, The Panania Star (thanks Jill!) . It's one of the oldest buildings in this quiet Sydney suburb.

What else is there to say about Panania? Well, cricketing twins Steve and Mark Waugh were Panania boys who attended Panania Public School; and actor Bryan Brown hails from here. The nearby Revesby Workers' Club has held a Bryan Brown Film Festival (now called the Reel Deal Film Festival, with Brown as patron). It also provides a $5000 film study scholarship called the Bryan Brown Film Scholarship - so budding film-makers, get the details here!

If you've never heard of Bryan Brown - here he is. In this article, Bryan said: "When I was growing up, no one ever thought about being an actor," he said. "I went to Panania Pictures and it was Tarzan or westerns or Rin Tin Tin."

And if you haven't heard of Mark and Steve Waugh, then you are from a non-cricket country; otherwise you've been under a log for a few decades! (Waugh fans - click on that link - it's great! I'm a fan - my son was coached tennis by their dad at one time. ) . Haven't got a quote from the Waughs about whether they frequented the Panania Star as well.

I'm off to Milperra now, home of another Australian sporting great. . . see you tomorrow.

What annoys me most in my city

Bad, low-quality development that is designed to make a fast buck for the developers, and does nothing to enhance the quality of life of the residents. And the councils and governments that allow it to take place.
At the bottom of this entry is a pic I have published before (on October 15th 2006), which typifies this. Sometimes it is called the "meritonisation" of Sydney, after the chief culprit, a company called Meriton. Link.

But I am not opposed to change and development, and acknowledge it is necessary to build high rise in places where once there were single family houses. This development, in the suburb of Kogarah, is an example of an attempt to do the right thing - and to enhance ecological sustainability.

Kogarah is a southern Sydney suburb dominated by a few large organisations - a large public and private hospital, the corporate headquarters of the St George Bank and a large technical college. This area was recently re-developed using passive design principles to maximise the use of natural flows of light, energy and heat.

85% of rain and storm water is collected and re-used on site, including in town house gardens, toilet flushing, car washing and the water feature seen below.

Most of the living spaces are north-facing (the ideal in the southern hemisphere) , and most of the apartments are cross-ventilated, eliminating the need for air conditioning. As well, solar cells are built into the fabric of the building. Apartments include screened clothes drying balconies and areas, aimed at reucing the use of clothes dryers by apartment dwellers.

In this dry country, in the grip of the effects of El Nino, in a city running out of water, where global warming means energy use is going to have to be cut, but where huge downpours of rainwater run straight into the oceans, and airconditioning is fast becoming a "fact of life", this kind of development is going to have to become more prevalent.


A reminder of a meriton travesty: ugly buildings built without adequate infrastructure (like narrow, already traffic clogged-roads, lack of electrical capacity, no recycling or water saving measures...)
There's lots of stuff to love about Sydney, and there's other things that annoy me: like police sniffer dogs, racism, dodgy public transport, people who chuck rubbish around, sewerage being pumped into our beautiful ocean...but development without aesthetic quality or environmental concern tops my list!

Have a look at what other Daily Photo Bloggers around the world say annoys them in their cities. Due to world time differences, the theme photo may not be displayed until later in the day:
1 (Porto (Portugal) ) -2 (Stayton, OR (USA) ) -3 (Albuquerque, NM (USA) ) -4 (Tenerife (Spain) ) -5 (Greenville, SC (USA) ) -6 (Dubai (U.A.E.) ) -7 (Evry (France) ) -8 (Jakarta (Indonesia) ) -9 (London (UK) ) -10 (Sequim, WA (USA) ) -11 (Buenos Aires, (Argentina) ) -12 (Seattle, WA (USA) ) -13 (Minneapolis, MN (USA) ) -14 (Stavanger (Norway) ) -15 (Joplin , MO (USA) ) -16 (Nelson, New Zealand ) -17 (Milano, Italy ) -18 (Singapore (KeropokMan) ) -19 (La Antigua Guatemala (Guatemala) ) -20 (Nottingham UK ) -21 (Singapore by Zannnie (Singapore) ) -22 (Budapest (Hungary) ) -23 (Not Strictly Seattle, ) -24 (Bandung (Indonesia) ) -25 (Vantaa (Finland) ) -26 (Hyde (UK) ) -27 (Madrid by Dsole (Spain) ) -28 (Oulu (Finland) ) -29 (Saarbr?cken (Germany) ) -30 (St. Paul [Carol] ) -31 (Sydney (Australia) ) -32 (Tokyo (Japan) ) -33 (Kyoto (Japan) ) -34 (Trujillo (Peru) ) -35 (Shanghai (China) ) -36 (Rotterdam (NL) ) -37 (Chicago, IL (USA) ) -38 (Nice, (France) ) -39 (Naples, Florida (USA) ) -40 (Hong Kong ) -41 (Santa Clara, CA (USA) ) -42 (Quito, Ecuador (South America) ) -43 (Cottage Grove, MN (USA) ) -44 (Paris, (France) ) -45 (Manila (Philippines) ) -46 (Brussels (Belgium) ) -47 (Auckland (New Zealand) ) -48 (Newcastle upon Tyne(England) ) -

Remembrance of things past

This is a metropolitan waste and recycling centre in Sydney. They are re-living the Olympic spirit from September - October 2000. Much of the Olympic accoutrements ended up as scrap. It's kind of nice they decided to keep these rings rather than stick 'em in the muncher-scruncher.