Target #7: Inspire and positively impact our communities every other day
16 February 2021
Community
Being a positive force in communities is also a fundamental part of our sustainability strategy’s ‘Care for people’ pillar. As well as ensuring we minimise the environmental impact of our operations, we take part in community engagement projects and spread the message of ‘waste no more’. One of the new strategy’s metrics will be to log the number of community projects undertaken and report on progress.
Engaging with local people
Working in partnership with the communities is a foundation for success at Renewi. That’s why we actively engage with communities, providing them with insight into our activities, educating them about our purpose and our mission, and showing how these fit into the evolving circular economy. During the year we opened up our facilities to the public. We welcomed 1,750 people onto our Vlaardingen site in the Netherlands and sought to inspire young and old on recycling opportunities.
In the UK, where we collect household waste, we partner with local authorities to inform and educate schoolchildren on the importance of pre-sorting waste at home, reducing waste and recycling. We also partner with environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy to deliver workshops to schools and youth groups in East London on recycling awareness, waste prevention and composting.
In the Netherlands and Belgium we have also developed lessons for pupils. We entered into a co-operative scheme with five primary schools in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, the Netherlands, to help reduce the volume of residual waste and pollution in their area. Renewi created teaching packages on recycling and tackling waste for primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands, one of which was adapted for Belgium. Renewi also created waste management plans for school leaders in the Netherlands, so education institutions could ‘practise what they preach’.