Just one of the ways we give back to the communities of Hampshire
We demonstrate our commitment to being a 'good neighbour' by encouraging all our staff to spend a paid half day a year giving something back to their local community.
Across the UK, this amounts to 6,000 days of voluntary local community work every year! Take a look at our video or read on to find out about some local projects we've been involved in.
Do you need our help?
If you have a project that needs some hands-on help, why not ask us, by emailing [email protected] and tell us about your project and what you need. This could be anything from tidying a community area to building a shed or compost bin! We are looking for projects in Hampshire where the community will benefit from some practical assistance.
Sarisbury Junior School
A group of staff from our Otterbourne head office, Marchwood and Portsmouth ERFs helped a local school in October 2011. They cleared four large planters of old vegetation and sol and refilled them with new topsoil and Pro-Grow soil conditioner. This will enable the children to fully utilise the planters for educational purposes.
Andrew Stockton, headmaster of the school, said: “We are extremely grateful to the Veolia staff for giving their time to aid the childrens' facilities.”
St Judes Infant School
In October 2011, six members of the haulage and transfer station staff from Marchwood carried out a school garden makeover. They moved a damaged greenhouse and constructed a concrete base made of reused slabs, before replacing the greenhouse, adding a missing door and replacing damaged window panes.
A flower bed was also dug and Pro-Grow soil conditioner added to make a growing patch for the school to use in the spring. They also did some general tidying up, cutting down bushes and removing green waste.
Moneyfields FC
A team of 9 staff from Portsmouth MRF volunteered their time to help Moneyfields Football Club with their grounds maintenance.
Moneyfields is a local football club which has a number of teams in adult leagues, all the way down to a youth team; there is also a Veolia connection as the MRF manager’s son is a member of the kids team. They rely heavily on parents to help maintain the grounds, but people don’t always have time to spare for the club.
Deputy site manager for Veolia, Wayne Rimmer, said:
“We thought helping the club get ready for the new season would be a great way to use our volunteering time. We got to work trimming hedges, weeding, strimming and clearing old goalposts. It was a great day and has made a big improvement to the club’s facilities.”
Portsmouth Beaches
A team of 35 staff from Veolia across Hampshire donated their annual half-day volunteering time to clear litter and debris from the shoreline alongside the M275 motorway from Whale Island to Port Solent. In total, over 27 tonnes of waste was removed and has improved amenity access for local residents.
Heavy lifting equipment was called in to pick up the largest items from the beach, including flotsam and jetsam such as industrial-size tyres. Over another three days, the teams of staff on foot picked up the rest of litter that has accumulated over years.
Richard Johnson, Projects Director for Veolia, said: “These beaches were the poor relation compared to other parts of the Portsmouth coastline, with so much debris piled up. The area is much tidier and improves the look of our coast, which is visible to residents and visitors from the nearby motorway.”