City celebrates with Eco-Day

Waitakere celebrates 10 years as an Eco-City with a special Eco-Day on Sunday 9 March at the Corban Estate Arts Centre in Henderson.

The free event will include 20 eco-friendly product exhibitors offering products and advice (from building to ‘eco finance’), free mini bus tours to eco-friendly sites around the City, displays of eco-fuelled vehicles, working artists and sculptors and Council service displays on the work being done to build an eco-friendly city. There will also be music, a children’s play area, organic food stalls and much more.

Organised by Waitakere City Council, in association with the Corban Estate Arts Centre and the Sustainable Business Network, the Eco-Day activities run from 9am to 4pm.

Ten years ago at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Waitakere City committed itself to Agenda 21 - the programme of thinking globally and acting locally, to foster sustainable development in partnership with the community. Waitakere is still the only New Zealand city to have made a commitment of this magnitude.

“Our aim is to create a balance where city growth and the environment are both sustainable,” says Penny Hulse, Chair of the Council’s Environmental Management Committee.

“In the last 10 years we have applied Agenda 21 principles to our policies of urban and rural growth, to building more environmentally-friendly civic buildings, introducing stormwater management, developing better waste management through recycling, recovery and composting, and introducing Green Network programmes to provide community assistance with such things as weed removal and native revegetation. Around 60,000 eco-sourced native plants and trees are now being planted in Waitakere City every year.

“So come and celebrate the City’s eco achievements – it’s our day and we’ve got a lot to be proud of!”

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