Waste Savvy Staffs
About 🔗
Waste Savvy Staffs takes a partnership approach, utilising education and community engagement. Garden Organic recruits, trains and coordinates volunteers to raise awareness of this topic throughout the county.
The Waste Savvy Staffs campaign aims to reduce food waste, increase composting and recycling, and promote other sustainable waste schemes, such as real nappies and Repair Cafes. We also support the Council in setting up community fridges in the county to encourage the sharing of unwanted or surplus food and drink.
Volunteering 🔗
Our volunteers raise awareness of ways to waste less through stands at events, talks, workshops, home visits and supporting schools, colleges and universities.
Most of the volunteer activity involves engaging with the public at events across Staffordshire, such as countryside shows, garden/flower festivals, sustainability events and fun days. Our volunteers also deliver talks and workshops to schools and community groups.
While coronavirus restrictions were in place, much of this work was successfully directed towards engagement via social media and talks to groups using Zoom, highlighting the flexibility of our volunteer programmes.
The volunteer can decide which of these events they wish to undertake, as well as finding their own local events or projects.
Requirements 🔗
The only requirements are that volunteers live in, or near, Staffordshire, are comfortable talking to people and are passionate about supporting their community to reduce the impact that poorly disposed waste has on our environment.
- Volunteers do not need to have had any prior experience of waste or public engagement.
- They only need to commit to a minimum of 30 hours of volunteering over the year.
- They can be reimbursed for any travel costs.
I've learnt more about composting in this short while than I ever could have elsewhere. What’s more, you’ve given me the confidence to go ahead and start composting myself. The Zoom format worked perfectly. Thank you.
Benefits 🔗
The campaign has a dedicated coordinator who will recruit, train and keep in contact with all the volunteers, supporting them to carry out their role.
As well as additional in-service training, the coordinator will also arrange social meetings to build relationships and maintain volunteer engagement.
The coordinator will also provide resources for volunteers to use, from leaflets, games and activities to tables, chairs, tablecloths and gazebos if required.
Become a Waste Reduction volunteer in Staffordshire
Attend one of our training courses and become an influencer in your local community, who encourages others to reduce their waste and care for their environment. Find out more about the role and sign up to volunteer with us.
