Cumbria County Council’s Community Development and Waste Management teams have joined forces to launch a new community project across the county.
The ‘Resourceful Communities’ project aims to encourage local community groups and parish councils to develop and run their own waste prevention events and activities.
Each participating community group will be given access to online training and guidance on how to plan and run events such as ‘Swishing’ (clothes swap), Give and Take Days, community cookery classes and composting. The council’s Waste Prevention team will also provide £300 of funding to each community group to get their project(s) started.
The groups will be supported by the council’s Community Development teams in organising, hosting and promoting the events, and asked to provide a report after six months to measure their progress and impact.
Cllr Celia Tibble, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: “Community projects such as this offer a fantastic opportunity to bring local people together and make a real difference to their local area. I’m really pleased that the council is encouraging and empowering communities to develop their own waste prevention activities. Reducing the amount of waste going to our treatment centres or to landfill is hugely important in helping reduce our carbon footprint and I’m looking forward to an invitation to a project in my own area.”
Cllr Deborah Earl, Cabinet member for Local Communities, said: “This is a fantastic project which has the potential to benefit communities all over Cumbria. I know that community activities and events are a great way to bring local people together, and encouraging and supporting Give & Take Days, clothes swaps and composting sessions is great for the environment as well. I would urge people to get behind this idea and think about what your community can do to contribute!”
Upon successful completion of a project, the community group will be officially endorsed as a Resourceful Community.
For more information about starting a project, please contact Katharine Smith, Waste Prevention Officer at Cumbria County Council – [email protected] / 07831 205382.
