News

January 2025

With the support of North London Waste Authority, we are delighted to offer courses designed to empower aspiring community leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to galvanise their communities to reduce waste. Climate and environmental leadership is needed more than ever, so we are looking for individuals passionate about helping their communities discover innovative ways to reduce waste and by doing so save money, conserve electricity, water and other precious resources. By teaching community-minded and motivated residents, we hope to increase the impact of the course in helping communities to reduce their waste.

The training is FREE to Barnet residents. A £15/session fee is charged to residents of other North London boroughs including Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest.

In person training: Friday, 17th January 2025, 11:30-2pm, Finchley Church End Library (register)

The in-person training will cover: how to reach out to people in your local community with waste-reduction content; communication styles and the impact of truly listening and connecting to others; review our yearly waste-reduction content plan and personalising it to your prioritise; ideas and examples of community waste-reduction engagement initiatives.

Apply here

FAQ:

What types of communities should applicants be part of?

We are looking for people who are part of (or aspiring to be part of) with a community, such as (not exclusive):

Voluntary community groups
Shared ethnicity, language, country of origin, faith
Employees or volunteers of a physical setting such as schools, community centres, places of worship, Scouts etc
Community groups such as friends of open spaces, litter picking etc.

Parent school community
Street neighbours
Large group of friends
Employees and business owners
University students who are part of a society
People united around a shared hobby
People not currently involved in a community but aspire to

What topics will be covered?

All you need to know about waste, its reduction and how to involve others, so that you can start inspiring your community as soon as this course finishes

Introduce main waste streams (such as cleaning, grooming (including periods, personal care), parties, food packaging, food waste, textile & fashion, families’ (school-waste; nappies) & more
Initiatives include three layers, focus is on the first two: 1) at home , 2) my community, and 3) at our geographical area.
Community engagement: how to get the community behind the initiatives with easy-to-execute small events. How to encourage people in your community to share their knowledge and hobbies with others.

What will applicants achieve in the course?

Attendees will leave with:

Increased knowledge about waste and its impact on climate and environment
Motivation and a sense of camaraderie about creating change
Join a supportive WhatsApp group
A personalised plan for 12 monthly waste-reduction community activities
At least 6 ideas on how to engage their community
A booklet detailing the waste categories and waste reduction ideas

What are applicants committing to?

Applicants joining the course are committing to:

Attend at least one of the two courses’ sessions, ideally both
In the year following the course, answer two very short surveys
Where applicants are a part of an established community which has a newsletter or a WhatsApp group, we hope they can at a minimum share content about waste-reduction twice a year (which we can prepare)
Even though we hope that the course’s attendees will help to facilitate about 12 waste-reduction initiatives in their communities during one year, we know that’s not always possible, so please do apply even if you are not sure what you can commit to at this stage.

December 2024

November

Learn how to reduce waste and consumption in Barnet and London, UK.

What is the circular economy and the 5Rs of waste reduction ; The five reasons to reduce our consumption and our waste ; How to prioritise your waste reduction efforts and ways to reduce waste in eight waste streams: Food waste, food packaging and storage, apparel, electronics, home care, personal care, parties/festivals and young families.

Watch the recording

March 2024

With support from Barnet Council’s sustainability team, we have won a grant to operate 12 climate and social action “sessions” between mid-March and the beginning of July. Ticketing information is regularly published on our EVENTS page.

These are called Finchley Sharing Spaces and are an extension of an existing project by Camden Think & Do. Ashden charity is helping them to roll out that programme in seven London boroughs, and we were selected to be one of them. More about the grant here.

Finchley Sharing Space is a community hub that supports climate and social action where Barnet residents can join together to share ideas, skills, food and stuff; creating a circular economy, and connected, resilient communities. It is run by the community, for the community with a range of topics covered in response to what residents in that area find of interest, and include F.E.S.T activities: Fix, Eat, Swap, Talk events. The Sharing Space will run as a 12-week programme between Late March-July with an event taking place each week on Wednesdays 5pm-7pm) at the Finchley Church End library (a walking distance from Finchley Central Tube Station). There will also be three sessions at JVS (Golders Green) where Barnet residents will demonstrate how to cook delicious vegan foods. Register here to our launch event which will include an “Unwanted Gift Swap” and a creative workshop.

We are looking for the following support from local residents:

Paid workshops/activity facilitators

The sessions are meant to be interactive, creative, inclusive and informative and include hands-on workshops which YOU can facilitate. This is a great paid opportunity to engage an audience on a topic that matters to you.

Paid assistants, volunteers, paid home-based cooks

Paid jobs: we are looking for “Visitor Experience Assistants” and “Community Engagement Assistants”. These are paid hourly jobs
Volunteering: come volunteer with us, join a Steering Committee, help us plan events, or come on the day to lend a hand, volunteering is totally flexible.
Home-based cooks: we have a small budget to buy homemade vegan and vegetarian food to share with visitors during our sessions.

Help shape the sessions

We are collecting feedback from Finchley and Barnet residents, to learn what they would like to do and learn during the sessions. We would greatly appreciate it if you could share this survey among your network.

Tell us what you’d like to see at the Sharing Space