6 Eco-friendly Service Ideas
Get the green edge with these fun and environmentally-focused service ideas! Perfect for Earth Day and National Volunteer Week, these creative ways to give back with an eco-conscious twist are simple, great for groups of all ages, and possible nearly year-round.
1. Community clean-up: Whether at a local park, river, or trail, your group can make a difference by coordinating a clean sweep to remove waste, trash and recyclables from the environment. See tips for organizing your community clean up.
2. Recycling: Volunteer your group to coordinate recycling efforts at a larger event taking place in your town like a festival or fair. Network with officials and event organizers to provide recycling bins and locations for your groups to encourage attendees to recycle their plastic, glass and aluminum bottles and cans. Raise funds by asking to keep collected recyclables and redeeming them for money for your group.
3. Gardening: Connect with local organizations managing community gardens and find out how your group can help, or plot a space for your own group and get planting! Designate rows for local food banks or shelters. Consider reaching out to friends and colleagues to find a master gardener who can teach your group and give recommendations depending on season, region, and accessibility to sunlight.
4. Found art: Practice the “R” of Re-use by incorporating found art into group projects. Great examples include decorating plant pots or photo frames with hardware, buttons, and ribbon from around the house; or re-use cereal boxes and scratch paper to make notepads. Donate your found art goods to local family shelters, nursing homes or habitat stores.
5. Awareness: Promote environmental awareness with a movie screening and panel discussion. Bring together the experts and environmental gurus in your town for a community awareness event and consider screening a well-rated and reviewed environmental documentary. Working with kids? Movies like 'Fern Gully' address the topic in a fun way kids can relate to – encourage discussion and questions with children as well.
6. Setup a Green Team! Focus on your own organization and actively eco-fy your current practices. Look what’s in the waste bin and work to reduce and eliminate waste and compost leftover foods from potlucks and parties. Other great examples , include going paperless with programs and bulletins, scanning qr codes to relay updates and information to members' smartphones, and employing real mugs for coffee and donuts – have volunteers donate mugs (we all know we have tons) and then signup to take a turn washing them after services and meetings.
Bonus Tip: Organize volunteers for your GREEN service projects with free volunteer scheduling software! Reduce waste and save time and energy - accessible 24/7 from computer or smartphone, online sign up sheets get more volunteers involved and automatic reminders help more volunteers show up!
