Fife's Zero Waste Volunteer News

Latest update

Spring is sprung

The grass is riz.

I wonder where the birdies is?

(Probably buried under the snow!)

Ah well, spring is a time of new beginnings and that is exactly what we have here at Fife Zero Waste Volunteer Group. After a short, sharp contribution Sarah is leaving to spend more time with her family. Her able and experienced successor is Kelly Hodgson who has been in and around the Centre in Falkland for some time. Kelly brings enthusiasm and well-honed project management skills and we would like to welcome her aboard.

Another new beginner Meghan is one of our newest and youngest volunteers. Meghan has brought a bright new perspective to the group and she would like to share some of her thoughts with you from our visit to the Binn Eco Park. Meghan gives us some perspective and tips about what volunteering with Fife Zero Waste Volunteer Group means. You can read her informative piece, “Volunteering My Story”

Yet another new Volunteer, Lynsey, an artist based in Ladybank, is mounting a series of creative workshops based around Zero Waste for primary age children at the Centre in the Easter Holidays. These build on our tradition of engaging young people and promoting our green and eco-friendly message across Fife. In this way we were there for the launch of the bikeability programme and the Greener Villages around the Lomonds questionnaire launch at Auchtermuchty Primary School before the schools broke up for the holidays.

Kelly and Rod, Volunteer coordinators

Zero Waste Volunteer Programme

IYF

Welcome to the Zero Waste Voluteering Programme! We’re working in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, aiming to turn Fife into a zero waste society, but to do this we need your help!

You can do your bit by reducing your waste at home, or even better, join our team of volunteers to go out into Fife promoting the aims of our campaign. This site should provide you with all the information you need on what you can do and what we are doing.

The aim of zero waste scotland is waste prevention and waste reduction. For more details, see their website at www.zerowastescotland.org.uk. In Fife, we are pursuing four main strands of the zero waste message.

Love Food Hate Waste
Home Composting
Stop the Drop
Recycle Now

Volunteering

We’re looking for enthusiastic volunteers across Fife to help spread the word to our local communities, friends and neighbours about wasting less and recycling more!

We’re involved in loads of different activities, from giving out top tips on how to save money and reduce food waste at local events and shows, to running interactive sessions on recycling in schools and with local groups.

Administrative help is needed to develop materials, games and general resources for use by our volunteers. We are also looking for people with skills in using social media and websites.

It’s a great way to have a positive impact on our environment whilst meeting new people, learning new skills or sharing your own great experience and having fun!

Training and support are provided by the local Volunteer Coordinator and Zero Waste Scotland as we are passionate about helping our volunteers make a real difference, both in their own communities and as part of a larger movement of people who are supporting Scotland in achieving its world-leading zero waste target.

To volunteer, please download the form below. You can return it by post or e-mail. For more information call Kelly Hodgson, Zero Waste Coordinator on 01337 858838 or 07900 350756

or e-mail her at: kelly@centreforstewardship.org.uk

Download the volunteer application form.

Events

Take a look at what our volunteers have coming up. Come along for a good day out and you'll have the opportunity to talk to one of our team. If you ARE a volunteer already and want to go along, contact us and we'll set it up!

The highlight events for April are the Get Creative and Reduce Waste! Children’s Workshops. These are to be facilitated by local artist and Zero Waste Volunteer, Lynsey Ewan. Book your space on-line. The events are running on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th April and include a Food Storybook session, a “How Many Miles?” Pizza Collage and a Litter Bug Sculpture workshop.

For more information call Kelly Hodgson, Zero Waste Coordinator on 01337 858838 or 07900 350756 or e-mail her at: kelly@centreforstewardship.org.uk

Our Campaigns

Love Food Hate Waste

Love Food Hate Waste Training

A decision has been made to take forward all the learnings from the pilot training programme mounted at the Centre for Stewardship and to compile and develop this into a training document which will then be distributed to all Coordinators in Scotland. This will be in the form of an easy to use and instantly accessible guide for all types of cookery demonstration events.

Concerned about the environmental impact of all that food you throw away? Looking to save a few pounds on your grocery bill? Well read on, loving food and hating waste can reduce your carbon footprint and save you money!

Official figures show that Scottish households waste an average of £430 per year on unused food. A total of 566,000 tonnes of food are thrown out across the country every year, two thirds of which could have been avoided if meals had been effectively planned, stored and managed. Just think what you could do with that extra £430 in your pocket!

Wasted food is not only bad for your bank account, but bad for the climate too. There are hidden environmental costs all down the production line. From transportation to storage to sale, each stage is resource hungry, requiring water, energy and packaging. Uneaten food that goes to landfill will break down anaerobically (without oxygen), producing methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas that produces 20 TIMES as much warming as Carbon Dioxide.

It is estimated that if avoidable waste was consumed, it would prevent 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere, the equivalent of taking a quarter of all cars off of Scottish roads!

Love Food Hate Waste aims to raise awareness of the economic and environmental impact of food waste. It offers practical advice on how to reduce food waste and save money, demonstrating how good management, preparation and storage can minimise the amount of food you need to buy and what is thrown out.

Have a look on the LFHW website for hints, tips and tasty recipes for leftovers.

There are also new and exciting tools to help you in your battle against food waste. Mobile apps are available for downloading on iPhone and Android, which can help you with portion sizes and give you dieas for recipes with food you have in your fridge. These tools are available online too, ensuring you don’t waste a crumb! Our Facebook page, Twitter account and Blog will keep you up-to-date with all the latest news from Love Food Hate Waste, and help you to get involved in the campaign right here in Fife!

We will be keeping the website updated with food events around Fife, so be sure to visit the site regularly for information on where, when and what we have lined up!

Home Composting

Composting is such an easy way of getting rid of the food that you just cant help throwing out. It stops the organic materials going to landfill and producing

For more information, go to the Zero Waste Scotland Composting site.

Stop the Drop

Sick of all that unwanted mail being delivered to ‘The Occupier”, to people that don’t live in your house anymore, or the marketing mail sent directly to you. Take yourself off these mailing lists to save the posty an aching back and save a whole load of excess paper being thrown into the bin unread. To find out how, visiit the stop the drop website.

Recycle Now!

Reduce, reuse, recycle. We have heard it a million times, but how well do you stick to the 3 R’s? Why is it so important? What happens to the waste when it’s put into the mysterious recycling bin? Does it really make a difference?

Sticking to the 3 R’s, we use less resources, less energy, send less to landfill and ultimately help protect the environment. To find out more, visit recycle now.

If we reduce and reuse, we cut down on the need to recycle. Some easy ways are donating old clothes, selling on unwanted items instead of throwing them out and buying second hand. Keep an eye out here for clever ways of breathing some life back into unwanted items.

If you are unsure about what you can recycle and what you cant, have a look at the Fife Council website. This is a great website, stuffed with information about the 4 bin service in operation, when your bins are collected, what you can put into your bins and what else you can recycle at different points around Fife. You can also check out Fife’s success rate (a whopping 48% recycled last year. Well done all!)

Working together, we can build a stronger and greener Fife.

For further information, please contact us on 01337 858838 or e-mail us at info@centreforstewardship.org.uk .