The Mosman Municipality estimated resident population for 2020 is 30,785, with a population density of 3,557 persons/km². In 2016, 33.3% of people in the Mosman Municipality were born overseas.

Having ‘an attractive and sustainable environment’ by using and encouraging sustainable practices is one of the Council’s seven strategic directions (MOSPLAN 2018- 2028).

Mosman Council recognises waste avoidance as best practice and aims to reduce its carbon footprint and minimise waste to landfill.

The Mosman Waste Minimisation Policy 2012 sets the foundation for facilitating sustainable waste management within the Mosman Local Government area in a manner consistent with the principles
of ecologically sustainable development. The objective of waste avoidance is to minimise resource consumption and waste production throughout the lifecycle of the building or premises.

Planning Priority 15 of the Local Strategic Planning Statement (2020) is to ‘manage energy, water and waste efficiently to ensure a sustainable urban environment’.

Projects

Council monitors local water quality through data collation undertaken as part of the Harbourwatch program and maintains a network of stormwater quality improvement devices to restrict the amount of litter entering the harbour.

All reserves received bin upgrade in early 2018. The new bins incorporate specially designed enclosures that prevent wildlife, especially birds, from accessing the bins and prevent light plastics from escaping bins on a windy day. This has helped keep the area clean and support the positive action of people using the bins. New signage on the bins has been installed to highlight what can be recycled in public place bins and what items need to be placed in general waste.

Almost 500 local residents and visitors joined the Rethink Rubbish activities, all focusing on raising awareness about the damaging effects of single-use plastics and rubbish in the waterways. Rethink Rubbish activities occurred at Clifton Gardens and Balmoral focused on cigarette butts, outdoor party litter, single use plastics and fishing tackle.

The Ocean Action Pod and a pop-up marine education display run by Shark in a Bus guided many participants through waste reduction educational activities and interactive displays.

The popular Seaside Scavenge was held annually, with participants collecting litter on the beach, exchanging their collection for tokens which in turn were swapped for previously donated second-hand goods. Over 10,000 pieces of rubbish were collected and 141kg of second-hand goods were swapped. Collectively over 1600 program interactions took place.

The Huskee Cup Trial was launched in September 2019 in order to reduce the quantity of single-use cups going to landfill. The program allowed customers to return their used cup in exchange for a clean one. This system was focussed on people who have multiple take away coffees in a day. 32% of cafes approached registered for the trial and were listed on both Huskee and Responsible Café websites. Over the seven- week trial, it was estimated that 2,300 cups were diverted from landfill.

The Council has run an annual community awareness program, ‘There’s no such thing as the Dog Poo Fairy’, at Mosman’s dog parks since 2014 to target dog poo litter. Over the 2017-2021 Council term, the amount of dog waste identified through annual audits at Spit West, Clifton Gardens, Sirius Cove and Rosherville has remained stable, and Rawson Oval is trending downwards. The only upward trend has been identified at Reid Park, although waste identified in 2021 still remains below 2014-2016 levels.

The Council supports and engages with organisations such as Take 3, Two Hands Project and the Total Environment Centre (TEC) to reduce waste.