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Hornsby Shire

The Hornsby Shire Council covers 455.2 km² in the north-east of Sydney, with a significant part of its border being formed by the Hawkesbury River.

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Part of the Lane Cove River & Parramatta River catchments.

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

Hornsby Shire

Community

The Hornsby Shire estimated resident population for 2020 is 152,419, with a population density of 334.8 persons/km². In 2016, 36.9% of people in the Hornsby Shire were born overseas.

The community has expressed the desire to see the Shire ‘to do more to tackle illegal dumping and litter management’ in the LGA during consultation (2020 Hornsby Waste Matters Strategy).

Hornsby Shire

Litter policy

To meet community expectations, the Shire has set a strategic goal in the Hornsby Waste Matters Strategy to reduce illegal dumping and littering in the Shire through an integrated approach of infrastructure, education and compliance.

Plastic litter in particular is addressed through the Single Use Plastics Policy (2020).

The Shire is a member of the Northern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (NRSOC), which has developed the Northern Sydney Regional Waste Strategy 2014-2021 and receives funding from the NSW Government for coordinated, voluntary programs at regional scale.

Projects

The Shire delivers multiple litter prevention projects to achieve its strategic goal:

  • continue to promote and support the six Return and Earn sites within the Shire
  • comprehensive bin signage on litter bins with the ‘Hey Tosser!’ campaign
  • regular cleaning and maintenance of 302 GPTs across the Shire
  • annual support for three Clean Up Australia Day events
  • Clean4Shore organised 28 field trips in 2020 to clean litter and general rubbish along the foreshores of the Hawkesbury River. More than 14,000 litter items were collected.
  • The Shire is currently developing three litter education videos to highlight the impact of littering and increase community awareness
  • EnviroMentors school incursions (including catchment health and litter prevention modules) have been regularly offered to all primary schools within the Hornsby LGA. The incursion-based environmental education program improves community awareness and engagement on local sustainability issues and initiatives.
  • Lane Cove River Catchment Days were an annual creek water quality monitoring event that brought together students from numerous high schools across the catchment. Water quality results were shared, and forums investigated ways of reducing litter and stormwater pollution. This initiative was originally started by Hornsby Shire’s Cheltenham Girls Streamwatch Team with support from the Council staff.