Volunteer of the month: November

Volunteer of the month is when we get to shout about our amazing volunteers and the, quite literally, life changing work they do to help Fresh Futures run smoothly and effectively.

This month we would like to say a big THANK YOU to Saberin who has been volunteering at Fresh Futures since July to support our mission to become more sustainable. Saberin has already made a huge difference here at Fresh Futures and we are so pleased to have her in the team.

We caught up with Saberin to hear about her Fresh Futures Volunteering journey so far…

How long have you been volunteering for the charity? Since July 2023

Tell us a bit about yourself: My name is Saberin and I am very pleased that I had a chance to be a volunteer in Fresh Futures. I am passionate in my role and I like teamwork and I’m a very motivated person. I always like to upgrade my skills and my knowledge.

Tell us about your volunteering role: Identify and create projects or design posters and brochures that relate to YCC’s sustainability work. I also encourage people to support positive sustainable change and awareness.

What made you want to start volunteering with YCC? First of all I wanted to improve my computer skills but now I’m interested in my role.

If you feel inspired to become a volunteer like Saberin, or if you would like to volunteer in any way for our charity, please contact Fresh Futures Volunteer Officer, Daisy, on: 01484 519988 or email: [email protected]

YCC’s sustainability mission continues at Brian Jackson College

As part of Fresh Futures mission to become more sustainable, the Brian Jackson College’s have been making it one of their priorities to educate their colleagues and pupils of the importance of sustainability and the impact each person could make to the community they live in.

With only being weeks away from welcoming our pupils back into the colleges, we are looking back at what the Brian Jackson College Teams were up to just before the summer holidays! Food Technology Tutor, Matt Lumb, created some delicious home-made recipes and demonstrated to the pupils how easy it is to make nutritional food for themselves and their families with sustainable produce.

All the pupils joined in and created some wonderful dishes which were enjoyed by everyone. They have kindly shared their recipes with us so we can try them at home too! You can view the recipes by clicking on your favourite below:

Carrot and Coriander Soup

Tomato Soup

Quorn Mince and Ale Pie

The Brian Jackson College’s have also been placing recycling bins around their buildings for plastic, cans, paper and compost wastage meaning the amount of waste being sent from Fresh Futures to landfill is being drastically reduced.

Here at Fresh Futures we are so proud of the continued changes we are making across all our sites to become a more sustainable organisation.

We are currently looking for volunteers to support us with our ongoing sustainability plans and to join us in making a positive impact. If you are interested in becoming part of the team, please email: [email protected] or call: 01484 519 988

News update: Sustainability improvements continue at YCC

As part of Fresh Futures aim to continue making positive changes and improvements to our sustainability choices across our organisation, we wanted to share with you all what we have been up to since our last update!  

Fresh Futures NOW HAVE GLASS RECYCLING BINS!

To help make recycling glass easier, Fresh Futures buildings now have ‘glass only’ recycling bins displayed around their premises for all users of the buildings to utilise. This means more glass will be recycled in the correct way, and will avoid being sent to landfill.

Did you know?

  • Glass is 100% recyclable and can be endlessly recycled with no loss of quality. That’s why it’s one of the most sustainable materials to use.
  • In Kirklees, glass cannot go into the ‘General Recycling’ council bin. This is because glass is recycled in a separate location.
  • If you put glass into your ‘general recycling’ bin in Kirklees, it will be redirected to landfill (along with all the other recycling it was combined with!) so please do not put glass in a general recycling bin. Instead, all glass should be taken to glass bottle banks which are located in various locations in your local area, including your local recycling centre.

SOFT PLASTIC

Fresh Futures have recently been sharing and increasing their staff’s knowledge with information about how to recycle soft plastic items in the best way to avoid them being sent to landfill.

Soft plastic items include: Crisp packets, pasta bags, chocolate wrappers, salad bags, bread bags, fruit and vegetable packaging, and baby and pet food pouches.

Did you know?

  • Similar to glass, soft plastics can NOT go into the ‘General Recycling’ council bin. This is because they can get caught in the sorting machinery at recycling facilities and so can’t be processed with other plastics.
  • Soft plastics are generally defined as plastics that can be scrunched into a ball, unlike ‘rigid’ plastics such as bottles and tubs. Just like glass, soft plastics must be recycled separately. So please do not put soft-plastics in your general recycling bins.
  • All soft plastic recycling should be taken to soft plastic specific recycling bins, found in supermarkets such as Aldi and Co-op. From there, these plastics are turned into things such as bags for life and other recycled plastic items.
  • The easiest way to recycle soft plastics is to collect your (clean) soft plastics at home, and take them with you (along with your reusable shopping bags) every so often when you head to the supermarket.

Click here to find out more about YCC’s sustainability improvements and 2023 plans.

We are looking for a Sustainability Champion Volunteer!

An exciting volunteering opportunity has arisen for a creative and enthusiastic individual to work alongside our charity’s Leadership Team on our Sustainability Action Plan – making positive, sustainable changes within our organisation. For more information, please click HERE.