The volunteers have been helping us work on an environmentally friendly green space centred on sustainability, located in our newly-curated community garden.  

 

 

The project began with compost systems funded by Tower Hamlets Council, in order to increase our company’s sustainability by reducing the amount of food waste we create. According to Waste Managed, the UK wastes around 9.52 million tonnes of food every year, with around 6.4 million tonnes of it still edible. This project takes the first steps of tackling the ever-growing problem of wasted food in the UK through well-looked after compost systems. We’ve now extended the project, utilising the resources in our space to further the presence of green in our area.  

The volunteers from the Groundwork team have been using our old pallet boxes to paint, weed, and refill them with new soil to make room for new vegetation, as well as additionally building more planter boxes and raised beds with unused wood in the yard.  

 

The aim of the project is to create a space where our surrounding community can use an area that is great, green and accessible. Where people can get involved with gardening, whether that be through workshops or school visits. This space has also been created for people of different generations to spend time with each other, amidst plants and mother nature, right on their doorstep.  It’s also tied to the eco-focus of our families programme, where we’ve been working with Oitij-jo Collective on a series of workshops themed around recycling, reducing food waste, and repurposing materials.

 

We caught up with some of the participants at work, to ask them about the developing project so far: 

I feel like seeing it all done was so nice… because it was a team effort, it didn’t feel as hard on your own. Recycling the pallets into different things is also really good because they’re not going to waste, which they do every year.
Liz, Groundwork Volunteer

This is a community-driven project to support independent people in creative spaces and so we’re just helping make the local area a better place for the community to enjoy.
Laura, Groundwork Volunteer
The idea of this is that people could come out, be in the garden, but it’s also a place where people might sit, maybe have a chat. It’s always a chaotic collaboration between all these lovely volunteers that show up but we’ve done it.
Ben, Corporate Partnerships Team Lead at Groundwork

 

We are really looking forward to the outcomes of this project and are very excited to welcome in our local community with a space they can enjoy and use.  

 

Written by Surya and Noah July 2025.

 

 

Please get in touch if you’d like to volunteer in our community garden or have an idea for contributing! Email Shay Rafati on: shay.rafati@richmix.org.uk

 

GROUNDWORK WORKSHOPS SUPPORTED BY