The purpose of my Fellowship is to seek better practice in the management of event waste and to engage event attendees in positive behavioural change.

Working at events, I saw how poorly many sites were treated by attendees and how many tents and sleeping bags were left behind. When I tried to divert usable items, I repeatedly heard the phrase, “That’s just not how it’s done.” This has always been a motivating phrase for me, and the Churchill Fellowship greatly inspired me to dedicate myself to this challenge.

The charity FWRD, where I am director, was created to divert usable waste towards those in need. I’m also a manager at Eco Warriorz, a volunteer organisation focused on instigating positive behavioural change at festival campsites. They do this by engaging attendees in better sustainability practice at festivals through incentivised engagement, such as rewarding positive behaviour with medals and entry into prize draws.

Due to my Fellowship, I have helped events to reduce their campsite waste by up to 70%. Additionally, FWRD has enabled the diversion, rather than incineration, of 100 tons of humanitarian aid away from landfill towards those in need in the UK and abroad, such as homeless and refugee support organisations.