Make your Resolution Green

This section outlines how you can make your New Year’s Eve green and tips and tricks on how to make your lifestyle greener as well.

About

Green Tips to plan your night

Zero Waste

Think outside the bin

Zero Waste is the City of Sydney's campaign to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill. It is about looking at waste as a valuable resource that can be used to create new products and even generate energy. Zero waste doesn’t mean zero rubbish. The idea is to use the rubbish we generate more productively so that nothing that can be reused goes to waste.

The challenge is to start thinking differently about waste. 

To learn how to avoid waste, reuse and recycle, go to the Zero Waste website.

Zero Waste is also about keeping Sydney clean. Things that can't be recycled still need to be disposed of properly as litter and toxic waste could leach harmful chemicals into our waterways, endangering marine life and our health.

How to be a Zero Waster on the night:

  • Fill up a reusable drink container before you head out and carry this with you - this means you can avoid buying bottled water.
  • If you're having a picnic, bring reusable cutlery, plates, cups, containers, and bags and take them home instead of using disposable items - reusing items is better for the environment than recycling.
  • Put any unavoidable rubbish in public bins, 80% of it will be recovered and recycled at the end of the event.
  • If it's possible, hang on to convenient recyclable items like paper and recycle them at home, separating them from general rubbish gets a better end product when recycled.
  • Avoid littering, particularly glass and cigarette butts for both safety and environmental reasons.
  • Bin your butts by using a personal ashtray distributed on the night or find a bin to put out your cigarette butt, cigarettes cause environmental harm when they go down the drain and into Sydney Harbour.

Want to do more?

Here some handy tips on how to starve your bin and keep the City clean:

  • Buy reusable items that last.
  • Say no to plastic bags.
  • Hire or borrow things, like dvds and books.
  • Choose products with little or no packaging.
  • Think before you buy something - buy only what you need.
  • Think before you bin something - give items to charity shops, the Bower reuse and repair centre, Reverse Garbage or Freecycle.
  • Consider reusable nappies, find out more at the Australian Nappy Network.
  • Use rechargeable batteries.
  • Do a free workshop to start worm farming and composting to reuse and recycle food and garden waste.
  • Buy products with recycled content.
  • Do the Zero Waste quiz and test your knowledge on what you can and can't recycle.
  • Find out how to dispose of hazardous chemicals, paints and even fluorescent tubes by calling the Environment Line on 131 555.
  • Report used syringes: call the Needle Cleanup Hotline on Freephone 1800 633 353. Take unwanted medicines to your local pharmacy for safe disposal or find out more here.
  • Think before you toss it - bin your cigarette butts.

A Green Event

New Year’s Eve is a time to think about our future and as such the City of Sydney took some action to fight global warming and held a greener Sydney New Year’s Eve as part of the  continuing commitment to a Sustainable Sydney by:

  • Purchasing 100% GreenPower accredited renewable energy to match our electricity use.
  • Recycling 80% of rubbish collected at the end of the event.    
  • Using recycled water collected from the City's rainwater tanks and collection pits to clean the streets.  
  • Distributing personal ashtrays on the night to help reduce littering of cigarette butts.
  • Encouraging event goers to take public transport, cycle or walk and leave the car at home.  
  • Partnering with Planet Ark as the for official charity of 2008 Sydney New Year’s Eve.

Australia's First Carbon Neutral Council

The City of Sydney is proud to have reached the goal of becoming Australia’s first carbon neutral council . The City has gone through a detailed process to measure greenhouse gas emissions from use of electricity including street lighting, as well as use of gas, fuel, fleet vehicles, taxis, flights, operational waste and refrigerants. The measurements have been externally verified and matched by purchasing accredited GreenPower and offsets. 

Measuring the Impact of Sydney New Year's Eve

The City of Sydney conducted a carbon audit of 2008 Sydney New Year's Eve, to ensure the event was carbon neutral.

The Carbon Reduction Institute was contracted by the City to conduct the review, which measured all emission sources the City of Sydney controls through policy, technology choice or direct authority.

This included the emissions resulting from:

  • Fuels combusted during the event
  • Fireworks combusted during the event
  • Consumption of electricity incurred in running the event
  • Third-party contractor services consumed by City of Sydney in the delivery of the event
  • Materials consumed by City of Sydney in the delivery of the event
  • Vendor travel
  • Waste created during the event and by City of Sydney in the lead up to the event

The City will purchase carbon credits as part of its annual carbon neutral program to offset the emissions from the event.

Find out more about our environment at www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Environment or for details on the Sustainable Sydney 2030 vision at www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/2030/.

More about Sydney New Year's Eve

  • Lord Mayor's MessageLord Mayor's Message
    Our celebrations bring together people from 200 cultures in one of the greatest cities in the world to welcome in the New Year.

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  • Charity Partner Charity Partner
    Each year the City of Sydney appoint an official charity partner to Sydney New Year's Eve.

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  • Make Your Resolution GreenMake Your Resolution Green
    Find out all the details about how we make the event green and how you can help make it greener.

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  • Event Partners Event Partners
    Sydney New Year's Eve is produced with the generous support of its corporate and government partners.

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  • Creative TeamCreative Team
    Meet the Creative team who are responsible for the inspiration, colour and flair of Sydney New Year's Eve.

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  • Production Team Production Team
    Meet the Production team who are responsible for delivering the production, technical and operational elements of Sydney New Year's Eve.

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