The Woollahra Municipality estimated resident population for 2020 is 59,431, with a population density of 4,851 persons/km². In 2016, 32.3% of people in the Woollahra Municipality were born overseas.

In 2018, the Council adopted the Woollahra  – 2030 Our Community, Our Place, Our  Plan which includes the Council’s updated environmental targets and commitments in relation to the five key priority action areas (energy & emissions, water, biodiversity, waste, transport). The Council aims to:

• 75% waste diversion from landfill by 2022
• litter collection devices and services throughout the LGA increase by 5% each year (% by volume).

The Council targets single use plastic litter in the Single Use Plastics Policy.

The Council supports the South Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) Regional Waste Avoidance and Resource  Recovery Strategy (2014-2021).

Projects

16 GPTs and 4 litter nets are installed throughout the municipality. These traps and nets collect organic waste, litter and other waste washed into the drains and stormwater network before it enters the harbour. In 2020/21, 180.78 tonnes of waste was removed from GPTs, beaches and rain gardens as well as waste from contractor high Pressure & Combo Works.

The Council is progressively integrating raingardens across the stormwater network and water catchments to help reduce the amount of pollutants entering the waterways and the harbour. To date, eleven raingardens have been installed across the municipality.

Council beach cleaners carry out daily cleaning of the beach. The level of cleaning is dependent on the tides and includes the use of a tractor/beach rake 3 times a week and hand raking/litter picks on the remaining days.

The Council partnered with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) to install six marine-cleaning SeaBin devices around the Club premises in Rushcutters Bay to collect marine litter and maintain the cleanliness of the local beaches and foreshores. Using the NSW EPA Council Litter Prevention Round 5 Grant, the SeaBins project aimed to remove 8.4 tonnes of marine litter from the bay each year. Cigarette butt bins and corresponding signage have been progressively installed at targeted locations.

Council provides free dog poo collection bags and cigarette butt bins in a number of Council parks to encourage residents to keep dog poo and cigarette butts out of the drains and harbour.

The 2020 Clean Up Australia Day brought together more than 100 people to clean the Rose Bay Beach and Tingira Memorial Park. In total 40kg of litter was collected, 82% of which was plastic and more than 2,000 cigarette butts were collected.

The Total Environment Centre (TEC) has run a number of mobile exhibitions, called Ocean Action Pod, at Rose Bay and Rushcutters Bay to engage the community through waste reduction educational activities and interactive displays.

Splash Without the Trash has recently received the 2021/22 Community Environmental Grants from the Council to run monthly harbour and beach cleans to remove litter from Rose Bay, the harbour waters and the surrounding beaches.