Rubbish Friends is a successful example of an environmental community group arising from and responding to a local need. It connects and inspires individuals to “keep Britain tidy” but at an accessible and manageable scale.

From a single Facebook post, through the drive and determination of its founder, Rubbish Friends Stratford-upon-Avon rapidly developed into a high-profile volunteer-led network, with its core activity being organised monthly picks at location determined by the collective group through social media.

As first to market, the group rapidly attracted a number of supporters in Stratford-upon-Avon and beyond. The original group was able to run its operations at a micro-level, developing strong relationships with local businesses including fast food chains who directly sponsored and gifted equipment. The network was able to rely on goodwill to run and manage picks, as well as store and clean equipment.

RF operations quickly expanded organically across the district and South Warwickshire to cover

• assisting community groups, businesses, schools and villages to set up their own RF
• developing partnerships with other environmental groups
• developing partnership with the local waste management company
• delivering awareness raising talks
• setting up and promoting recycling initiatives
• advising local events on reducing waste
• managing Duke of Edinburgh volunteers

In response to this success, Rubbish Friends Stratford upon Avon was formed as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in January 2019 with a small group of managing trustees to provide governance and financial oversight of these expanding activities.