Get in touch

Let’s get litterate

Blacktown

Blacktown City Council is in the west of Sydney and covers 240.1km². The east of the Council area has five creeks that flow into Parramatta River covering the suburbs of Kings Langley, Lalor Park, Blacktown, Prospect and Seven Hills. The creeks are:

  • Toongabbie Creek
  • Girraween Creek
  • Blacktown Creek
  • Lalor Creek
  • Grantham Creek
Visit council website

Part of the Parramatta River catchment.

Blacktown Cumberland Canada Bay Inner West Strathfield Parramatta The Hills Shire Hornsby Shire Ku-ring-gai Willoughby Mosman Lane Cove Sydney North Sydney Burwood Woollahra Waverley Ryde Canterbury Bankstown Northern Beaches Parramatta River Catchment Lane Cove River Catchment Middle Harbour Catchment Port Jackson Catchment

Blacktown

Community

Blacktown City Council has an estimated population in 2020 of 382,831. The population living within the catchment is approximately 88,479. In 2016 40.4% were born overseas, slightly higher than the Greater Sydney average of 36.7%. (profile.id.com.au/blacktown).

Between 2016 and 2041, the population for Blacktown City Council is forecast to increase by 295,985 persons (85.06% growth), at an average annual change of 2.49%. (profile.id.com.au/blacktown).

Blacktown

Litter policy

Blacktown City Council’s Community Strategic Plan, Our Blacktown 2025-2050, One community building a brighter future, links waste management to managing and enhancing the natural environment while delivering a built environment that is liveable and sustainable in Strategic priority- Places.

The Clean Cities Strategy 2024-2029 is the leading strategy in managing litter in the City. The strategy focuses on involving the community to help maintain a successful clean environment including litter prevention and keeping areas clean and tidy. Key priorities are:

  • A sense of place
  • Encouraging positive social behaviours
  • Effective public place management
  • Support collaboration and partnership

Litter is also identified in the City’s Six Streams Integrated Water Strategy 2020.

  • Target 3 of the strategy is for 65% of waterways to be in fair or better condition by 2036. This condition score takes into litter into account
  • Target 4 includes litter as it is to improve community satisfaction with ‘healthy natural waterways’ to above 80% by 2036
  • a further action in Target 4 is to continue to support the PRCG and the Our Living River campaign to make the Parramatta River swimmable again by 2025.

Learn more

Projects

Since the last litter strategy, we have achieved:

  • Reduced graffiti by 81%
  • Worked with Blacktown Westpoint to install a trolley lock system to reduce littered trolleys
  • Implemented signage, education and enforcement measures in selected fast food outlets to reduce litter by an average of 45%
  • Installed and maintained more than 400 gross pollutant traps
  • Installed 19 enviropoles to target cigarette butts
  • Reached more than 300,000 people through social media posts in 12 months
  • Collaborated with 1,800 builders to promote cleanliness on building sites through our business pride program
  • Created new partnerships with Transport for NSW and NSW Health to promote litter prevention in hot spots
  • Held ‘Respect it don’t wreck it’ anti-graffiti workshops attended by over 8000 students
  • Worked with community on Clean up Australia Day and other events
  • Reduced fast food packaging litter by 82% throughout ‘All eyes on Blacktown’ project
  • Educated 22,000 community recycling incentive scheme members, on litter prevention, Report a Tosser and other waste education