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.

A Successful Fortnight for Win on Waste!

Poole-based environmental charity, Win on Waste, is celebrating after success in two local awards programmes over the past two weeks.

Marion Burton (Trustee) and Stacey Woods (Business Manager) accept the Green/Eco Business Award at the Wimborne Business Awards.

On 20th March, Win on Waste volunteers in Wimborne were awarded Gold in the ‘Green/Eco’ category of the Wimborne Business Awards and this was followed by the whole team being named winners of the ‘Green’ category at the CAN (Community Action Network) Voluntary Service Awards on 27th March.

Stacey Woods, Business Manager at Win on Waste said ‘These awards are a testament to the hard work of our volunteers across East Dorset’. She continued, ‘As a volunteer-led organisations, we rely on the commitment of our volunteers, plus their knowledge and expertise – we could not do the work we do without them – so to see them rewarded locally is fantastic!’.

Stacey Woods (Business Manager), Marion Burton (Trustee), Linda Bunting (Recycling Ambassador), Richard Burton (Trustee) and Harriet Sephton (Trustee) accept the Green CAN Voluntary Service Award.

Based in Poole, but working across 11 areas of East Dorset, Win on Waste provides community-based waste collection sessions, where local people can bring a range of hard-to-recycle waste. This is then sorted and diverted towards good causes who can use these items for their fundraising or projects.

Last year, Win on Waste welcomed over 4000 local households to 124 sessions, and kept 2.5 tonnes of common household waste out of general waste and recycling systems.

Sessions are ongoing in 11 locations across East Dorset, including in Southbourne, Wimborne and Corfe Mullen. Full information on sessions and the items collected can be found at www.winonwaste.org

Win on Waste Sessions in March 2025

We’re back in 11 areas of Dorset in March, with the 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.

Win on Waste Sessions in May 2024

We’re back in 10 areas of East Dorset this month, but there are some upcoming date changes you need to be aware of – the next TWO sessions in Christchurch will be held on the SECOND weekend of the month, due to holiday and double booking, otherwise all our sessions will run as normal this month – see the posters below for what each session collects

  • 4th May
  • Hamworthy Library – 10.00-12.30
  • Merley, Lantern Church Hub – 10.15-11.30
  • 11th May
  • Christchurch, Druitt Hall – 10.00-11.30
  • Ashley Road, Co-op –10.30-12.00
  • Lytchett Matravers Scout Hut – 10.00-11.30
  • Wimborne Methodist Church Hall – 10.30-12.00
  • 18th May
  • Corfe Mullen, St Nicholas’ Church – 10.30-11.30
  • Poole, The Spire – 10.30-11.30
  • 25th May
  • Oakdale Library – 10.30-11.30
  • Kinson Library – 10.30-11.30

Now Confirmed! Win on Waste Kinson running in June.

We’re delighted to be able to confirm that our Win on Waste recycling session in Kinson will be up and running again from Saturday 26th June.

Based at Kinson Library, the session will run from 10.30-11.30 and you can bring any of the items listed on the poster below, which will benefit a large number of local charities, including 24th Bournemouth Scouts, Against Breast Cancer, The Museum of East Dorset, Ellie’s Fund and Wiltshire Air Ambulance – along with ourselves, of course!

We would appreciate it if all items could be sorted in advance of the session, please be mindful of social distancing and don’t forget your mask!