3 background

Background

How kids, companies & creeks evolved

Students and teachers at NSW schools Freshwater High, Mackellar Girls High and Stella Maris College have been monitoring water quality in the Manly and Curl Curl Lagoons since 1990, as part of the Sydney Water Streamwatch program. Like many other waterways. The results have shown that these lagoons are polluted. To change community attitudes towards their local waterways the schools have organised a number of awareness-raising events.

Kids, companies & creeks (kcc) evolved specifically from the Waste Information Forum in December 1993, organised by students and staff from Freshwater High School for the Brookvale industrial area. As a result of positive feedback about the effectiveness of the Waste Information Forum, Blackmores, a leading natural health products manufacturer based locally, asked former Freshwater High teacher, Sue Lennox (from Oz GREEN), to help organise a similar event targeting the Balgowlah industrial area.

What is kcc?

kids, companies & creeks was a Project which brought together three important elements in the community.

kids - enthusiastic young people who care about their environment
companies - business and industry in a local community:
creeks - the environmental focus and reason for action.

Kcc brought together students involved in the Streamwatch program, environmentalists, industry, the local community and waste management experts to share information about ways to clean up our local waterway through cleaner production processes and waste management. The project focused on the Balgowlah industrial estate, an area with approximately 250 small- and medium-sized businesses and industries near Manly Lagoon.

The kids companies & creeks project was a joint initiative of Blackmores Ltd, Oz GREEN (Global Rivers Environmental Education Network - Australia Inc.) and the Manly Environment Centre.

Rationale

Producing this book

This book describes in words and pictures a process of environmental education which involved a number of key groups in a local community. It provides a case study of one particular project which culminated in a major event in the Balgowlah industrial estate. The organisers hope this book will encourage individuals, industry and community organisations to undertake similar projects within their local catchments.

Objectives for kcc

The kcc project in Balgowlah was a community-based environmental education project which aimed to:

make non-threatening contact with industry

involve and include key stakeholders in the Manly Lagoon catchment

increase awareness about waste minimisation, water pollution and catchment protection among business and industry

motivate the business and industry community to adopt an attitude of environmental care

encourage business and industry to investigate and adopt practices which minimise environmental impact.