Earth hour is the time to switch off!

Details
Penrith City Council (02) 4732 7777 (02) 4732 7958 council@penrithcity.nsw.gov.au 601 High St Penrith NSW 2750 Australia

Friday, 16 March 2018

At 8.30pm on Saturday 24 March, Penrith City Council will be “switching off” in support of Earth Hour.

At 8.30pm on Saturday 24 March, Penrith City Council will be "switching off" in support of Earth Hour.

What started as a local event in Sydney has become a global phenomenon with 50-100 million people across 35 different countries now taking part and supporting the Earth Hour initiative.

Penrith Mayor Cr John Thain said Earth Hour was the perfect reminder about what we can all do to help look after the environment we live in.

"Every year Council participates in Earth Hour by switching off all non-essential lighting at our facilities. We'd like to encourage everyone in the Penrith community to join us by switching off your lights for one hour as well," Cr Thain said.

In addition to taking part in Earth Hour, Council is continually looking for ways to be more sustainable.

Some achievements include:

  • Installation of 34 solar panel systems across Council buildings, bringing our total energy generating capacity to 306KW (typical home system is about 3-5kw).
  • Planting more than 99,000 native plants and trees across South Penrith and Emu Plains.
  • Restoration of the regionally significant Mountain View Reserve Wetland which provides habitat for migrating birds.
  • 34,026 kg of problem waste collected at the Community Recycling Centre in the first five months of operation.
  • Over 70,000 kg of electronic waste was collected at our Electronic Waste drop off events in 2017.
  • 59,816 kg of problem waste such as paints, oils & batteries were collected at the Chemical CleanOut event in 2017 by 1600 vehicles.

To learn more about local sustainability news, upcoming events and workshops subscribe to Sustainability eNews by emailing .

Photo caption: Solar panels on the roof of The Joan. 

Information contained within this news release was correct as at Friday, 16 March 2018.