Win on Waste Sessions in September 2025

All of our sessions are up and running this month – details below and on the linked pages.

How to fit tiny bits of volunteering into your everyday life or have you heard about micro volunteering?

Image of a clock with activities.

Let’s be honest the idea of volunteering is great – the satisfaction of helping others and supporting a cause you care about  (and the endorphins can even give you a helper’s high) – but time is a big issue for most of us.  Fitting another thing into an already busy week can seem impossible so that’s why the idea of micro volunteering is such a good idea.  For lots of people committing to a day or half a day of volunteering a week just isn’t an option.

Micro volunteering is just what it sounds like a short burst of feel good volunteering.

Fortunately for you (and us) at Win on Waste our activities are ideal for people looking to do some good but in a limited time frame.

At the most if you volunteer for a full session you are looking at a maximum of 3 hours one Saturday a month, (assuming a 2 hour session with set up and tidy up) and not all sessions are 2 hours long.

However if this still a step too far for you at the minute – how about 30 mins – if you could come along at the end of a session you could help bag up and weigh items, or help set up at the beginning. 

Most of our sessions are in central locations so you could combine your volunteering with another Saturday morning chore or even something more fun! Whatever your Saturday plans we’ve got a session that will fit in.

For example, if you were helping at Poole – you could drop off your own collected items, help out for half an hour and meet a friend for lunch in The Spire café, or go on a thrifting session (I found the almost most perfect dress in a charity shop in Poole the other day – almost in that it was a size too small!)

Our Hamworthy, Kinson and Oakdale sessions are at the local library – you could pick up some new library books, drop off your own collected items and help out for half an hour (and if you don’t have a library card why not – free books what’s not to love?!)

If you need to do shopping on a Saturday morning then our Parkstone session is just in the right place, drop off your own collected items, help out for half an hour, then do your shopping.

Fancy a bit of lunch after then do you know how many restaurants and cafes there are near to our Southbourne session, no neither do we – there were too many to count! I’m not making any recommendations as I haven’t tried them all yet but I’m always up for a challenge. So how about but how about dropping off your own collected items, helping for half an hour, then taking a walk through Southbourne for a bit too eat!

Our Christchurch session is just off the High Street, so lots of options, but how about dropping off your own collected items, helping for half an hour, then taking a walk through the gardens and down to the Quay.

In Corfe Mullen – the session is on at St Nicholas’ Church, so you could drop off your own collected items, help for half an hour then enjoy a coffee (or similar) in the café – meet a friend or just take a book and give yourself a half hour break (GASP!)

If you need to get your steps in at our Lytchett Matravers session – you could off your own collected items, help for half an hour, then take a walk – the WI have some lovely ideas – you could start with a couple of laps of the rec and build up – there’s even one that’s over 13 miles (which may not be best for a Saturday lunchtime stroll!)

Sustainable Shopping for University

This time of year with young people expectantly waiting for exam results lots of them are preparing for going away to university and moving away from home for the first time.  The list of things they might need seems never ending and with lots of other expenses and things to think about it can be daunting.

But never fear if you have a young person of to uni (or you are a young person off to uni) this year, here are my top tips for preparing for a less expensive, less wasteful university experience:

Make a list (doesn’t every big life event need a list) and if you can get advice from others, this list from UCAS is quite good – although skip the TV (if you only watch programmes on a laptop that isn’t plugged into the wall you are covered by your parents TV licence). 

Make sure your list is realistic – what do you like to cook/drink etc will effect what you need to get and rooms are (generally) small.  Honestly an ironing board is not something most people will need (yes I have heard of people taking ironing boards).  Think of dual purpose items a large reusable shopping bag works as a laundry basket and takes up way less space. 

Think about what you already have – lots of us have spare towels and bedding that our young people can take with them.

What do you really need to buy new – things like duvets and pillows might be on this list

Check out your local car boot sale – trust me you will be able to pick up a lot of things this way – last year we bought a stack of plates/bowls for £5.  Particularly good for picking up individual items – why buy a pack of 4 glasses if you only need one or two.  One thing though pick up saucepans etc and check them carefully – too heavy or wobbly handles are not a good thing.

Ditto for checking out your local charity shops – I have one local to me who often have ‘new’ kitchen items which was fantastic for stocking up.

With both car boot and charity shops start early though you probably won’t get everything the first time you look.

Don’t bother with lots of cleaning stuff – a white vinegar spray and a few reusable cleaning cloths will work fine.

Think about how you are getting stuff there and getting it back.

Lastly and not related to shopping – if you haven’t already done so teach them (or find someone to show you) some basic cooking and cleaning skills – if nothing else the people they/you share with will appreciate it.

Win on Waste Sessions in August 2025

9 of our sessions are up and running this month, as some of our teams take a well-deserved break for the summer – details below and on the linked pages.

As previously advised, the plastic lunchbox/bottle programme, and the household cleaning programme have now sadly closed, so we are unable to take this waste any longer.

Win on Waste Sessions in July 2025

All of our sessions are up and running this month – details below and on the linked pages.

As previously advised, the plastic lunchbox/bottle programme has now sadly closed, so we are unable to take this waste any longer.

This will also be the final month for cleaning/laundry packaging across all sessions – apologies for any inconvenience.

Win on Waste Recycling Awards 2025 – Now Open for Nominations

Win on Waste is excited to announce that nominations are now open for Dorset’s top recyclers in 2025!

After our successful event in 2023, which also celebrated our 10th Birthday, this year we will be rewarding local recyclers across seven categories at an event on 27th September. This year’s event coincides with #RecycleWeek, a national initiative to encourage people to increase and improve their recycling, at home or at work.

It is so important to recognise dedicated recyclers who are giving so much of their time to help the environment and also encourage others to refuse, reuse and recycle – we know that there are so many incredible local people making a difference, so now it’s your turn to nominate them!

The standard of nominations at the previous event was incredibly high, and we’ve been amazed and, in many cases, humbled when we’ve seen exactly how much they’ve achieved, and how much they are valued by their communities.

So, talking of nomination forms, we’d love to see lots for the Recycling Awards this year.

These are the categories:

  1. Adult recycler (18+)
  2. A team of recyclers from a private/statutory/voluntary organisation (where its main business is recycling)
  3. A team of recycling volunteers (a group of individuals who come together to recycle)
  4. The No 1 recycler (a person who has really gone the extra mile)
  5. Young recycler (age 17 and under)
  6. A private/statutory/voluntary organisation whose employees recycle (but not where its main business is recycling)
  7. School or college

To nominate, download our nomination form (in Word or PDF format), complete and either email or post it to us by the closing date of Sunday 10th August. Please do check with the nominee before you submit a nomination – we will require some contact information, so must be sure that they are happy for you to give it.

We’re really looking forward to reading all about the recycling action your nominee is taking to help make the environment, and especially their local area, the bit better!

Download the Nomination Form:

Microsoft Word

PDF Version

Win on Waste Sessions in June 2025

10 of our sessions are up and running this month – details below and on the linked pages.

As previously advised, the plastic lunchbox/bottle programme has now sadly closed, so we are unable to take this waste any longer.

Win on Waste Sessions in May 2025

All of our 11 sessions are up and running this month – details below and on the linked pages.

As previously advised, the dental waste programme has now been closed, and this has now been joined by the programme collecting coffee and tea waste. The coffee waste can now be widely recycled in supermarket soft plastic collections.

Chatting with Little Green Prom Dress

We thought we’d chat to different groups in our area who are promoting different ways of reducing waste and the rubbish we send to landfill.  First up Little Green Prom Dress Wimborne.

How did you get interested in the problem of prom dresses?

When my daughter was thinking of going to prom I was horrified to discover just how much money some prom dresses would cost and along with the other expenses of tickets etc. it made me realise that this was just going to be unaffordable for many people.  Then the realisation that a lot of these dresses were being worn once and then hung in the back of a wardrobe for years.  In 2020 I decided to buy no new clothes for a year (and basically just kept going!) so I have a lot of practice buying secondhand so it was relatively easy to help my daughter find a secondhand prom dress to wear.

We bought her dress online and the only problem with that is you can’t try on easily so I thought it would be great to have a local option where people could borrow dresses and I wanted to make it super affordable so that everyone can afford a great prom experience.

How does Little Green Prom Dress work?

Basically I started out buying some secondhand dresses (spoiler if you look just after prom season has finished you can get some real bargains) but also I asked for donations and people locally have been so generous. So now I have around 70 dresses from a size 2 -20 that people can borrow for a hire fee of £5 plus a £15 deposit.

The dresses are available all year but in the run up to prom season I start running try on sessions which are often held at the Fair Ground Shop in the Corn Market in Wimborne  –  Fair Ground and Wimborne War on Waste have been super helpful for me to get going.

How can people borrow a dress from you?

All the dresses are on the facebook page – I’m working on better photos but this is all being done on a shoestring!  If people are interested they can come along to try one on at one of our sessions or message me and we can make some alternative arrangements.  I sometimes take dresses along to local schools as well.

Where else can people look for prom dresses and accessories?

There are lots of options – I quite often see some lovely dresses in local charity shops at this time of year and I think Julia’s House in Creekmoor have had a good selection previously.  Alternatively look online secondhand outlets – such as Thrift, Vinted or Depop are good places to look.  I would recommend trying not to be really focused on a specific style and start looking early as it may take a few items to find what you want.

What to do if you have a dress you no longer need?

I’d like to say donate it to me and must admit I find it hard to say no but I’m really struggling with space now so I am trying to be more selective in what I can take – generally smaller or larger sizes are what I look at.

Also if you’ve spent a lot of money on it then you might want to try and recoup some of that – I’d try and sell it on – you could try FB marketplace, or second hand sites like Vinted, Depop or Ebay. Fun fact – it’s actually really sustainable to sell your secondhand stuff – you know it’s going to someone who really wants it.

Remember sometimes it’s tempting to hang on to things just in case – but be realistic is this dress ever going to be worn again – the older it is the more difficult it can be to sell – also a lot girls generally start looking around February/March so this might be a good time to list something for sale.

Are you doing something to reduce waste, recycling or promote a circular economy in Dorset – email us we’d love to chat and share your story.

Win on Waste Sessions in April 2025

Due to the Easter weekend, our Corfe Mullen and Southbourne sessions will NOT be running in April, but the remainder are unaffected – details below and on the linked pages.

As previously advised, the dental waste programme has now been closed, and this has now been joined by the programme collecting coffee and tea waste. The coffee waste can now be widely recycled in supermarket soft plastic collections.