Community Engagement Volunteer

Please note that volunteers MUST be based in the UK. We are not able to sponsor visas.

Unwaste.io is a UK based social enterprise using data to create a circular economy for plastic. Our cloud platform, Wastebase, collects data about single-use plastic waste found in the environment. We encourage individuals, communities and NGOs to use our free Wastebase app to collect evidence about the plastic waste they find in their area. We want producers to take responsibility for where their waste ends up. Our data can help them do that.

We’re looking for a UK-based volunteer who can help connect with community organisations in the UK and encourage more people to use Wastebase to support their activities. If you like being out and about, talking to people who want to improve their community and you are interested in improving the environment, this might be the role for you.

Regular tasks

We’ll support you to understand our aims and audience and encourage you to bring your own ideas and creativity to what we do. Regular tasks will involve:

• identifying and engaging with community organisations involved in local clean ups, waste or litter campaigning or plastic free advocacy through Facebook, instagram and TikTok, supported by our Social Media Manager

• joining local clean ups in person to demonstrate the Wastebase app and get people excited about using it

• joining meetings remotely to give demos or presentations about Wastebase, supported by our comms lead

• distributing posters for community groups to use in their local displays

Essential requirements

• willingness and confidence to get out and talk to local groups in person

• access to own car or ability to travel independently with the local area (up to a day trip - we don’t expect you to make extended or overnight trips)

• confidence in public speaking (remote or in person) and engaging people on a personal level

• confidence in using digital tools to make presentations or demos (for example, Google Meet, Google Slides)

• experience in using social media to connect with people or organisations

Desirable requirements

• knowledge of or interest in plastic reduction, waste management or the circular economy

• desire to create positive impact on the environment 

• previous experience of working with a community organisation in an engagement or marketing role

Expenses

Unwaste.io will reimburse reasonable travel expenses (including fuel). This could include train travel to meet a community group, for example, plus lunch if out for a whole day. These must be agreed in advance.

Working schedule

We expect our volunteers to join regular weekly check ins - these are usually about 30 mins at an agreed time. Outside of this, we expect you to manage your own time and complete tasks in a way that suits both your schedule and the requirements of the role. This is likely to include some time at the weekends (to join clean ups) or in the evenings.

We are always available to answer questions and offer support and encourage all of our team to ask for help whenever they need it. If you are joining clean ups and events, we will support you to do this safely. 

Training and support

We’ll provide you with appropriate training on our app and data management platform, as well as the collaboration tools we use. We’ll also support you to develop your knowledge of plastics and the circular economy, and to build your skills around community engagement (writing, presentation, identifying contacts for example). You'll be supported by our Partnerships and Comms lead and will work alongside our Social Media Manager and Data Volunteer.

If you wish to use this role as a basis for a personal study project or portfolio project, we will be happy to provide you with additional access to our data and digital tools.

Future opportunities

This is an unpaid role and we can’t guarantee any future employment with Unwaste.io. However, your experience as a volunteer would be very valuable if you chose to apply for any future roles with us. We always encourage our volunteers to apply for relevant roles if they come up.