Volunteering

Greater Manchester has many different ways you can get involved and make a real difference to our environment. From helping out in nature and our amazing places, to volunteering at your local food bank or repair cafe. There really is something for everyone. It's also a great way to learn something new, stay healthy and make new friends.

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Squirrel with nut in its mouth sat in a tree
RSPB

You can volunteer for us in hundreds of ways. Explore more to find an opportunity which suits you.

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Hands together
National Trust

Making new friends, working in amazing places and knowing that you’re helping a great cause – three fabulous reasons to get volunteering.

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Bird sitting in tree
Carbon Landscape

Volunteering is perfect for gaining new skills, exploring hidden pockets of wilderness and making a change to your community. We have a variety of volunteering opportunities available and your time greatly helps protect our heritage and wildlife for future generations to enjoy.

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Heart shaped hands against trees
Manchester City of Trees

Whether you’re a green guru, an eager novice or just fancy helping out occasionally at some tree planting or orchard creation – we want to hear from you!

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Building a Better tomorrow volunteers
Groundwork

Regular volunteering could help you to get to know your community, help you keep fit and active or help you to gain skills and qualifications. Whether you’re an individual or organisation Groundwork offers a variety of opportunities which ensure both you and your community benefit.

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Green Gym Volunteers
The Conservation Volunteers (TCV)

We’ve been taking volunteers into the green spaces of Greater Manchester and Merseyside to do practical conservation activities for over 20 years.
Come and get involved with helping improve the Green Spaces of the North West with TCV.

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Young plants in tubs
Royal Horticultural Society

Volunteer with the RHS. If you’re passionate about gardening or wanting to support the RHS in its vision to make the UK a greener and more beautiful place, volunteering with us could be perfect for you.

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Girl riding bicycle
Sustrans

Sustrans look after the National Cycle Network. They help local people to walk and cycle more. They improve our green spaces for wildlife and inspire young people in schools to get active. Even if you’ve got just an hour to give every so often. Get in touch today. They’d love to hear from you.

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Sow the City

As a not for profit organisation, Sow the City volunteers are really important and can help out in a variety of ways. From constructing or maintaining community gardens to planting fruit and vegetables. There’s always something to do. If this sort of hands-on work interests you, why not add your name to their pool of volunteers.

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Greater Manchester Records Centre

The Centre relies on volunteer recorders with local knowledge to keep information up-to-date by regularly submitting their observations and survey information. The work is important for conservation and improving outcomes for Greater Manchester’s wildlife.

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Take action…

To make a big change, we must all take small actions. Becoming greener and making an impact is easier than you might think. We have put together a range of blogs, articles, toolkits and checklists to help you make a start.

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Although we set out with a simple mission to reduce plastic waste, we’ve quickly realised that it’s just one piece in the sustainability puzzle. One of the biggest, but most easily attainable actions we can achieve is to look at where our goods come from and reduce the carbon footprint needed to get a product from manufacturer to consumer. Many of the products we stock are made by local, independent manufactures, who provide us with a wide range of things from reusable face wipes, wax food wraps, face coverings, soap bars, plant pots, kitchen cloths/sponges and butty bags.

Carl from Lentils and Lather

Our aim is to start changing the habits of families in Greater Manchester by getting them to ‘borrow’ rather than ‘buy’ brand new toys. We’re making sure that toys can be reused again and again by children who need and want them – and they are not just sitting in a cupboard or under someone’s bed.

Kim from That Toy Thing

The best part of upcycling is that old furniture is often better made than the equivalent flat-packed furniture we get today and with a little bit of time, love and care, you can create a completely unique piece of furniture for your home that no one else will have. I also love that these pieces of furniture have a history of their own and through transforming and updating them we can breathe a new lease of life into them.

Hannah from Tread Softly

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund is providing a further boost to the ambitions of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership to create a thriving, inspirational and connected landscape. It supports the recovery of wildlife through habitat creation and improvement as well as community recovery through providing opportunities for local people to develop skills, knowledge and beneficial connections to their local natural environment.

Jo Kennedy, Coordinator of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership

The reason I signed up to the Green Homes Grant scheme was two-fold, selfishly the measures will add value to the properties and make them more valuable in the future. But more importantly it benefits the tenants, keeping them warmer and prevents problems like damp and condensation. Ultimately measures like external wall insulations should keep tenants happier and ensure they remain in the house for longer.

Neil, Rochdale property owner

We used to think we didn’t have enough time to shop on our local market because we were working; how wrong we were?  We discovered it is an amazing place to shop for plastic free. We swapped tea bags for tea leaves and coffee jars for beans which we buy from The Market Grounds on Ashton Market – well worth a visit as the homemade cakes are delicious. All the stall holders have been amazing, not one of them minds us taking our containers to be filled with meat from the butchers. We get our bread, cheese, fruit and veg from the market too.

Julie from Ashton-under-Lyne

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

The Business Growth Hub has given us focus and extra knowledge. They’ve helped us form the base to grow sustainably and work efficiently as a team while making us conscious of our environmental impact as a business.

 

Ollie Birchall, Founder of Nutri Bar

I’ve not really been a cyclist throughout my life, more of a runner to be honest. And certainly not commuted. But I just thought if I’m going to change, surely now is the moment to change. I’m feeling the personal benefits of doing it. You just feel better when you come into work. It clears your head. There are benefits of cutting congestion, cleaning up the air. Everyone benefits when people cycle.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

We think our water fountain is INCREDIBLE, it’s the perfect place for people to ‘refill’ and help themselves to any of the free edibles we’ve got growing in Market Place. We’re so grateful to all the organisations that helped make this happen. Alongside the plastic free motion that was passed by council and helped us achieve our first Surfers Against Sewage objective and in turn our Plastic Free Community status, it shows real commitment in reducing plastic waste and supporting our community.

 

Pete Fillery, Plastic Free Rammy and Incredible Edible Ramsbottom

I guess I’ve always been what you would call a conscious consumer. I’ve always detested plastic bags, all of my skin care products at home are plastic-free, vegan, and sustainable. My toothbrush is made of bamboo, there’s no plastic anywhere in the house. Everything in the salon has to be vegan – that was the first rule for me. We started with one brand of haircare products that was vegan, organic, and Fairtrade, but the distributor in the UK was wrapping all of the deliveries in plastic, and it felt really needless, so we ditched them.

 

Rachael, Gronn eco-salon in Bury

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

 

Kat Mulhall, Victoria Baths Trust, Manchester

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