Thanks to the generous grant of over €300,000 from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment for a year-long initiative, the Recycling Ambassador Programme is reaching people all over Ireland bringing clarity to household recycling. Over the past four months we have held 147 workshops, reaching 4337 people all of whom are helping us re-engage their families, friends and neighbours in better recycling behaviour.

The recycling list gives people one simple and clear message about recycling: ‘keep it clean, empty and loose.’ As an environmental NGO, we are in the unique position of being the pipeline between national and regional government, industry and individuals, facilitating communication and information-sharing and clearing up any confusion around recycling through our 30 Ambassadors.

Project manager Suzie Cahn states ‘during our workshops, we get many questions that we never anticipated. Because of our relationship with government and industry, we can get clear answers and quickly feed them back to the ambassadors, who are then well able to provide accurate information back to the public. In this way, our face to face workshop approach is a two-way pipeline and our clarification process really connects with people.’

We are meeting the public anywhere we can; in local groups, parents and residents’ associations, active retired groups, Tidy Towns, ICAs, local development associations, sports clubs, work place lunch and learns, Universities / ITs and adult education colleges, hospitals, or at events such as science and sustainability fairs.

Here is just a selection of the kind of consistent feedback we are getting from participants, these were collected by Recycling Liaison Officer Aoife Britton for the Connacht Ulster region;

“It was very good, it inspired me to put the right things in the right bin” – Parents Association Scoil Naomh Molaise workshop, Sligo

“Very useful and informative presentation, learned a lot!” – St Angelas College Staff workshop, Sligo

“Great presentation” Colooney Tidy Towns workshop, Sligo

We have been spreading the recycling message on our social media and have been featured in articles in local and national papers as well as speaking regularly on radio shows and getting mentions in group or company newsletters.

Be sure to follow us on social media for tips and recycling workshops near you, we’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Contact suzie@voiceireland.org to book a workshop or find out more!