Christchurch youngsters win award for tackling waste at home and abroad

A Dorset Beavers group have produced some rubbish ideas to tackle waste – and are the first in the UK to be awarded a new eco badge.

All the Mudeford Beavers contributed to the group’s fundraising for an eco charity tackling waste overseas, and leader Sue Jones, aka ‘Mole’, has been amazed by their ingenuity.

‘We had Beavers being sponsored to do everything from gathering leaves to litter-picking to making beds to unloading the dishwasher, while others sold homemade cakes or artwork,’ says Sue. 

‘Myself and another leader, Puffin, offered to sew on Beaver badges in return for donations and, perhaps unsurprisingly, we had a lot of takers!’

Together, the group raised £780 for Bournemouth-based charity Bin Twinning. It raises funds for social enterprises overseas which are setting up bin collections and recycling projects for the first time in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. Bin Twinning invites you to ‘twin your bin’ for £45 and help sponsor one of these projects.

Waste is a serious global issue: 2 billion people don’t have their rubbish collected and have no other option but to dump or burn their waste. Unmanaged waste spreads disease, damages the environment and causes flooding.

Every member of Mudeford Beavers, who are part of 10th Christchurch district Scouts group, now bears the new Bin Twinning Community Award badge on their sleeve, awarded in recognition of groups who go the extra mile in their fundraising.

Bin Twinning Fundraising Lead Sarah Suddrey says: ‘We’re really excited when we see young people understanding just how important it is to manage and reduce our waste – and Mudeford Beavers have been inspirational. We firmly believe that young people like them hold the key to changing our throwaway culture and setting us on course for a more sustainable future.’

Inspired by their younger counterparts, Mudeford Scouts have started fundraising for Bin Twinning too.