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The City of Canterbury Bankstown has been acknowledged at Keep Australia Beautiful’s 2021 Sustainable Cities Awards.

Council was highly commended in the Recycled Organics Award and Community Spirit and Inclusion Award categories and was a finalist in the Overall Sustainable Cities Award.

Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour said this was a great achievement for not only Council, but the whole community.

“Being recognised for our pioneering programs is extremely reassuring and proves that we are on the right track to be an even more sustainable City,” Mayor Asfour said.

“It also shows what incredible spirit and passion our community have; without their support these programs would never work.”

Council’s Household Chickens and Food Waste Trial was highly commended in the Recycled Organics Award.

It aimed to provide skills to selected residents to experience keeping backyard chickens as a way to use food scraps as chicken feed, helping to keep it out of their red bins and away from landfill.

Judges stated the program was “Old school and innovative at the same time!”

The 13-part Garden to Kitchen to Compost Webinar series helped to build Community Spirit and Inclusion by increasing the confidence of residents to grow edible gardens, cook with homegrown produce and compost or worm farm to reduce food waste to landfill.

The series was adapted to include fun, cheap and easily available recycling options (while in lockdown) to build a garden at home and to strengthen resilience and generate positive mental health by helping people feel connected at a time of community isolation.

To learn more about other sustainability programs Council offers for its residents, visit cb.city/sustainability