winonwaste Latest News, Recycling Awards

Win on Waste Rewards Dedicated Local Recyclers

Poole-based waste and recycling charity, Win on Waste, welcomed local recyclers to a ceremony on 27th September to reward those who go the extra mile for recycling and sustainability in their communities.

Win on Waste Recycling Award Winners with Cllr Vivienne Charrett, Mayor of Christchurch

Organisations and individuals were nominated by members of the public for their efforts in sustainability and recycling across Dorset, and the Awards were presented by Christchurch Mayor, Councillor Vivienne Charrett.

Stacey Woods, Win on Waste Business Manager, said ‘Our own work in waste and recycling has shown us that there are some brilliant people and organisations quietly getting on with promoting recycling and sustainability across Dorset and we were delighted to be able to reward them.’

Nominations were received across five categories, with winners including Circular 11 – a Christchurch-based start up working in waste plastic, Dave Taylor from Weymouth and Portland Marine Litter Project and the Card Makers for Sudan project based in Colehill.

Nominees and Winners

Adult Recycler

    Nominees:

    Winner: Mat Smith

    A team of recyclers from a private/statutory/voluntary organisation (where its main business is recycling)

      Nominees:

      Winner: Wimborne War on Waste

      A team of recycling volunteers (a group of individuals who come together to recycle)

      Nominees:

      Winner:

      St Michael’s Church – Card makers for Sudan

      A private/statutory/voluntary organisation whose employees recycle (but not where its main business is recycling)

        Nominees:

        Winner:

        Wimborne Methodist Church Coffee Mornings

        Number One Recycler

        Nominees:

        Winner:

        Dave Taylor

        About Win on Waste:

        Win on Waste has been working in waste and recycling for over 10 years, collecting a range of hard-to-recycle household waste via face-to-face, community-based sessions, and diverting it towards good causes who can use it for their fundraising or project work. It is very often the first step for households on a journey towards sustainability, and the welcome people receive from our volunteers, and the knowledge that they share at our sessions can really help people embrace sustainability and feel that they are not alone in doing their bit for the planet.

        Last year, our volunteer teams across 11 areas of Dorset dealt with 3 tonnes of hard-to-recycle waste and welcomed 4000 households to our sessions – we were also awarded the Litter-free Dorset Sustainable Business Award. Our volunteer teams were shortlisted for the BBC Make A Difference Awards 2025.

        winonwaste Latest News, Session Info

        Win on Waste Sessions in October 2025

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

        • 4th October
        • Christchurch, Druitt Hall – 10.00-11.30
        • Hamworthy Library – 10.00-12.30
        • Merley, Lantern Church Hub – 10.15-11.30
        • 11th October
        • Ashley Road, Makkah Foods –10.30-12.00
        • Lytchett Matravers, The Scout Hut – 10.00-11.30
        • Wimborne, Methodist Church Hall – 10.30-12.00 – don’t forget to head over to the Minster Green for the Wimborne Green Festival!
        • 18th October
        • Corfe Mullen, St Nicholas’ Church – 10.30-11.30
        • Southbourne, Immanuel Church – 10.30-11.30
        • Poole, The Spire – 10.30-12.00
        • 25th October
        • Kinson Library – 10.30-11.30
        • Oakdale Library – 10.30-11.30
        • Wimborne
        • Southbourne
        • Poole
        • Oakdale
        • Merley
        • Lytchett Matravers
        • Kinson
        • Hamworthy
        • Corfe Mullen
        • Christchurch
        • Ashley Road, Parkstone
        winonwaste Latest News, Session Info

        Win on Waste Sessions in September 2025

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

        • Ashley Road, Poole
        • Christchurch
        • Corfe Mullen
        • Hamworthy
        • Kinson
        • Lytchett Matravers
        • Merley
        • Oakdale
        • Poole
        • Southbourne
        • Wimborne
        winonwaste Dorset, Latest News, Session Info, volunteering

        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!)

        winonwaste Latest News, Session Info

        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.

        • Kinson
        • Southbourne
        • Poole
        • Corfe Mullen
        • Ashley Road, Parkstone
        • Lytchett Matravers
        • Merley
        • Hamworthy
        • Christchurch
        winonwaste Latest News, Session Info

        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.

        • Ashley Road
        • Christchurch
        • Corfe Mullen
        • Hamworthy
        • Kinson
        • Lytchett Matravers
        • Merley
        • Oakdale
        • Poole
        • Southbourne
        • Wimborne
        winonwaste Latest News, Recycling Awards

        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

        winonwaste Latest News, Session Info

        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.

        • Ashley Road
        • Christchurch
        • Corfe Mullen
        • Hamworthy
        • Kinson
        • Lytchett Matravers
        • Merley
        • Oakdale
        • Poole
        • Southbourne
        winonwaste Latest News, Session Info

        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.

        • Ashley Road
        • Christchurch
        • Corfe Mullen
        • Hamworthy
        • Kinson
        • Lytchett Matravers
        • Merley
        • Oakdale
        • Poole
        • Southbourne
        • Wimborne
        winonwaste Latest News, Session Info

        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.

        • Ashley Road, Parkstone
        • Christchurch
        • Hamworthy
        • Kinson
        • Lytchett Matravers
        • Merley
        • Oakdale
        • Poole
        • Wimborne