Resource Futures
The Green theme of this issue (Voscur newsletter July 2007) continues within our regular Voscur member profile. We caught up with Kate Thomas of Resource Futures, one of the many Bristol based environmental organisations.
Why did you set up?
Network Recycling, SWAP (Save Waste and Prosper Ltd) and The Recycling Consortium (TRC) have been working in partnership for key clients since 2003. Although the three organisations were originally established with slightly different aims, they all shared the same vision - to work in the field of sustainable resource management in a financially sound, ethical, and innovative way; to contribute towards a world where resources are used sustainably; and to encourage people to recognise their individual role in reaching this goal.
In 2005, we began developing ideas of common ownership and the three companies merged into Resource Futures. Merging into one large organisation gave us an increased capacity to: meet the needs of clients; resource efficiency through avoidance of duplication; and a more focussed approach to development of new work areas. This enabled us to expand our specialist services and projects across two geographical locations - Bristol and Leeds.
What do you do and what services do you offer?
We offer a range of consultancy and associated services to local authorities, central government and private organisations as well as running our own practical projects. In Bristol and surrounding areas we run:
· Real Nappy campaigns in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, encouraging new mums to reduce waste and save money by disposing of their disposables and trying reusable nappies. We give talks and demonstrations and run £30 discount voucher schemes.
· School Education Projects, helping schools set up recycling and delivering fun workshops that encourage children to take the recycling and waste minimisation message home.
· A community composting project, where residents can take their garden waste to be turned into compost, mulches and fire wood, that they can then collect to use at home.
· RIFE - this project sets up recycling facilities for blocks of flats, consulting with residents on what would be suitable for them and then encouraging them to use the facilities once they are in place. We currently supply the Waste Doctors service for Bristol City Council, supporting their introduction of new recycling and rubbish collections.
Nationally we run the Community RePaint network, with groups collecting paint from householders and retailers which is then made available to community groups and individuals in social need.
What is your staffing structure?
Merging the three organisations gave us the opportunity, and the challenge of designing governance and staffing structure from scratch, to meet the current and foreseeable needs of the organisation.
There are five teams within Resource Futures, three teams offer commercial consultancy services, one team manages our practical projects and the core services team providing support to the whole organisation. The teams are spread across two office locations in Bristol and Leeds and we have two community support officers based in Oxfordshire.
To minimise our own environmental impact we have a policy of using public transport wherever possible and make use of new communication technology for teleconferencing.
What challenges are you facing as an organisation?
In the past five years we have had to change the funding basis for the organisation. The withdrawal of landfill grant funding for waste projects coincided with local authorities having recycling targets for the first time and we were able to use our expertise to offer consultancy services. We are now much less reliant on grant funding that may not be renewed, but instead have to cope with peaks and troughs in workload caused by local authority budgetary cycles.
In the future we intend to apply all the skills we have learnt in encouraging behavioural change towards rubbish to the wider climate change issues and are already working on a project encouraging water efficiency in the home for the Environment Agency.
Why do you think the voluntary & community sector should be concerned with environmental issues?
Sustainable resource use is ultimately down to individual action. The community sector is ideally placed to encourage this bottom up behavioural change both by actively engaging with communities and by setting an example by their own buying behaviour.
What tips can you give to small voluntary groups who wish to become greener?
You can do a lot to green your organisation without it costing money, such as double sided printing and tuning off computers when not in use. Keep an eye open for subsidised consultancy services that can help you audit your organisation and help you reduce your environmental impact further.
What do you get out of being a member of Voscur?
Being a member of Voscur helps us keep in contact with other voluntary organisations, letting us know what else is going on and who we might partner with on future projects. Voscur also provides us with a good source of information on training and grant opportunities.
How can people get in contact you?
The Bristol office is based in the CREATE Centre, Smeaton Road, Bristol. Tel: 0119 930 4355.
Information on our commercial services can be found at: www.resourcefutures.co.uk
Local projects: www.recyclingconsortium.org.uk
Community repaint: www.communityrepaint.org.uk
