Project description
An online network of volunteers championing waste prevention, reuse, and recycling in Essex.
Aim
The aim of this pilot was to build an online volunteer network, making it possible for anyone who uses the internet to get involved, regardless of how busy they are or where they live. With the aim to help residents keep items in use for as long as possible and recycle more.
Target audience
Adult Essex residents using the internet.
Specific goals
To recruit 100 volunteers each year, and for each of the volunteers to engage with at least 20 people. Resulting in 2000 people engaged on waste prevention and recycling each year.
Timeline
September 2021 to May 2022.
Platform
Who was involved in this project?
Lead organisation: The Love Essex team at Essex County Council.
Organisation contact
Responsibilities
Officers from the Circular Economy Team.
Other stakeholders involved
Colleagues running other volunteer groups at Essex County Council have been involved as a sounding board.
Where was the project piloted and why?
Online (Facebook group) aimed at Essex residents.
This was the revamping of an existing volunteer group (Waste Busters) who used to take part in events and talk to the public. However, many volunteers lacked time or transport to attend events which were mainly at the weekend. By choosing to be online, everyone could decide how much time to devote and when. Additionally, this enable people to still get involved, even during the Covid-19 pandemic when people were advised not to mixing with others. An online group made it as easy as possible for any adult in Essex to get involved and become a Love Essex Champion.
Why was the project created?
Why we did the project
To offer an alternative voice providing residents with advice on waste prevention. Environmental messaging that supports resident behaviour change when shared from peers or other relatable sources is often more impactful to a broad audience. The team was aware that many residents already shared waste related content on their social channels. This project wanted to amplify these existing interactions, empowering residents to play an active role in waste prevention and helping the environment.
Expected value to the circular economy
To contribute to residents’ behaviour changes by highlighting small and varied initiatives anyone can carry out in their own time. Love Essex Champions were also provided with training and advice to increase their knowledge and confidence of the waste hierarchy, the circular economy, and positive behaviours that can be put in place every day.
How was the project implemented?
Cost and staff resource
- Advertising: £142.
- Prizes: £755.
- Volunteer badges: £270.
Compliance
- Approval not needed from Cabinet Member, but cabinet member was made aware of the change from in-person volunteering (Waste Busters) to virtual volunteering (Love Essex Champions). Head of Service and Director were informed of planned changes through presentation and updates during transition to Love Essex Champions April-Sept 2021.
- Information Governance Impact Assessment was submitted and approved to move to Better Impact platform. New IGIA not required for move away from Better Impact to Facebook.
Monitoring
At the beginning of each month, Love Essex Champions were provided with a list of four or five “challenges” they could complete. This was to provide inspiration of something new they could tackle or something they had already done but not measured. The challenges were structured along the “Learn- Do- Shout about it” format.
Love Essex Champions were always invited to share their initiatives on social media and spread the word on their networks. Explaining why they were doing so (such as to reduce waste by keeping items in use). They were also sent a survey to fill out outlining actions and results.
At the end of every month, the number of new members, their distribution in the county and the results of a short survey were measured. This included how many Love Essex Champions undertook a challenge, how they did it, and how many people they engaged with.
Results
Impact
The impact of the Love Essex pilot over nine months resulted in:
- reach: 145 people joined the group and became active Love Essex Champions
- engagement: 1296 people engaged with Love Essex Champions social media content
Lessons learnt
The strengths of the pilot have been:
- recruitment of 145 Love Essex Champions from all 12 district, city, and borough councils in Essex. Some of the people belonging to the previous volunteer group reconfirmed their commitment, however the majority were new members
- use of a variety of promotional channels from Essex County Council and the 12 local authorities in Essex such as: newsletters, and social media
- a “Challenge weekend” held in September 2021 and publicised with paid online social media posts were a very effective way to recruit new members
- moderation of the Facebook group. This did not require much time and effort as participants did not raise any concern with their posts or their comments
- members were happy to share other activities going on in their areas or little things they had achieved in their everyday life. Nothing was deemed too small, and the rest of the group cheered on members’ successes
- this was a project which could reach many people of diverse demographics and lifestyle with minimum effort. It helped broadcast messages to a large audience which could be amplified by members’ personal networks
The weaknesses of the pilot have been:
- interest: litter picking seemed to be the most interested and carried out activity. With it being a very useful way to reduce litter and demonstrate good practice to the general public. Although it does not directly prevent waste and it may be hard to quantify its impact
- engagement: The format of the monthly survey sent out to Love Essex Champions was changed halfway through the pilot. This was to make it easier to fill in and include a recap of activities for each month to aid memory. However, the change did not bring about a significant increase in the number of surveys returned. Also, in many cases the number of people reached with the Love Essex Champions’ activities was a generic “several” or “many people”. Even when moderators specified a figure (an estimate) was needed
- additional activities: After the first “challenge weekend” others have been organised, but not with the same success. This could possibly be due to relaxation of covid restrictions and screen fatigue. Moderators also tried to organise meetups. However, uptake was low resulting in the events being cancelled
Obstacles:
Essex residents with no access or ability to use the internet were not involved in this pilot.
Risks
As it was an online group, people carried out activities of their choice and were responsible for their own health and safety. However, all volunteers were given guidance and a health and safety manual after joining the group.
While abusive language is common on online platforms, this was not something that was experienced in this group. Moderators oversaw posts and comments to ensure this was mitigated as much as possible.
There was a challenge to understanding how far-reaching waste prevention, reuse and recycling messages were getting through and being widely shared by Love Essex Champions and beyond. The moderators did not visit the volunteers’ private channels, so unless something was shared in the group it would not have been known. This also meant that there could have been intense activity and sharing within online communities without reach reported.
As the scheme was launched during the COVID pandemic, some customers had concerns with borrowing items that had been used by others. Although a minority, it would have been useful to provide more information on the procedures used to ensure items were safely cleaned and stored, and therefore safe to share, and that our processes were the same as those in place for books.