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Our practical, fun and FREE cooking sessions can help you make the most of your food.

Suitable for children aged 9 or over. *Limited spaces available. Leicestershire residents only (excluding Leicester City). Please bring plastic containers with you to take home the food you cook.

We will be attending the following events:

The Leicestershire Waste Partnership is looking to recruit and train 20 people to become Waste Action Volunteers – experts who help residents reduce the amount of rubbish they send to landfill. In Leicestershire, every two weeks we throw away enough waste to fill the Albert Hall; we need your help to reduce this.

These are just some of the things you could get involved in but the opportunities for learning new skills and gaining experience are endless.

The initial training will focus on Home Composting, Love Food Hate Waste (a National campaign to help reduce food waste) and Recycling.

Additional training modules will be available in areas such as Real Nappies, Reuse and Packaging if you are interested in expanding your knowledge further.

As a Waste Action Volunteer you will be asked to complete 30 hours of volunteering in the first year. The course is open to all Leicestershire residents (excluding Leicester City) aged 18 years and over.

Download an application form and return it either electronically to wasteprevention@leics.gov.uk or in the post to the address detailed on the form.

For more information please call 0116 305 7005..

Get a helping hand from our volunteers!

Want to know more about recycling?

Got a problem with your compost bin?

Want a 'green' stall at your local event, or a talk to your school or community group?

Then speak to one of our specially trained volunteers based throughout the county. They are here to help you and your community, school or workplace find out more about how to reduce waste, save money and help the environment.

Call 0116 305 7005, or email waste.prevention@leics.gov.uk to get in touch with your local volunteer.

Every hour in the UK we throw away enough waste to fill the Albert Hall; we need your help to reduce this. Our volunteers can give personal advice and tips to help you and your community find our more about the benefits of reducing waste, such as saving money and time.

Why not ask a Waste Action Volunteers to:

Run a cooking class teaching people how to make the most of leftovers using our ready made lesson plans

Attend your local event

Give personalised advice to households about how to reduce waste

Set up a display stand in your local area e.g supermarket or library

Give a talk at a school or Brownie or Scout group

Write an article for you local newsletter or magazine

This is a fantastic opportunity to help local people save up to £50 a month through learning how to reduce food waste and improving their confidence at cooking and making the most of leftovers. The 'toolkit' is designed to have everything you need to pick up and deliver it, meaning you do not need any previous experience of running such an event.

Our useful, FREE toolkit is packed with information and resources to provide everything you need to set up and run your own cooking classes on making the most of the food we buy. The downloadable toolkit contains easy to follow lesson plans, interactive activities, tasty recipes, fact sheets and guidance.

Download a copy of the toolkit to browse the resource and lesson plans, to find out more and see if you would like to get involved.

love_food_hate_waste_cooking_toolkit-2.pdf (6 MB)

We are looking for a number of organisations, groups and schools to pilot our 'toolkit' and deliver a cooking class or course to those in their community, who would really benefit from saving money or improving their cooking skills. We will be able to help you through providing support, free giveaways and posters, use of our cooking equipment library and advice.

We would like those that use the toolkit to provide feedback on their experience so we can make the toolkit even better before the toolkit is launched nationally, later in the year.

Currently the toolkit is only available to be used in Leicestershire, to Leicestershire residents (excluding Leicester city).

Our Master Composters will be attending the following Farmers Markets on a regular basis:

Burbage Farmers Market, 1st Saturday of the month, Methodist Church, Windsor Street, Burbage. 9am-1:30pm

Earl Shilton Farmers Market - 3rd Saturday of the month, Wood Street, outside Co-Op, Earl Shilton. 9am-1:30pm

Hinckley Farmers Market - 3rd Thursday of the month, The Market Place, Hinckley. 9am-1:30pm

For further information on these Farmers Markets visit www.leicestershirefoodlinks.org.uk