Volunteer with UCRRA
Are you looking for ways to turn your passion into purpose? Want to help your community become more aware, informed, and engaged about waste sustainability, recycling, and composting? Looking for ways to meet like-minded friends and have fun at local community Earth Day events and fairs? Are you a seasoned home composter or someone with a deep interest in recycling? Or maybe you are curious about a career path in environmental studies and want to enhance your resume with community service? The Master Composter Master Recycler (MCR) program may be for you!
Once per year, every summer, the UCRRA administers a professional development course to train local community members to develop their expertise in waste, recycling, and composting education. Upon completion of all ten master classes, participants receive an official certificate and become enrolled volunteers as an extension of the Agency’s Recycling Outreach Team. Through volunteering, community members can support the Agency’s outreach initiatives in a number of ways and extend the reach of our programming, increasing our impact, and helping our community to reduce waste by promoting recycling, composting, and other conservation techniques.
Eligibility: Participants must be an Ulster County resident, age 18 years or older (all ages welcome), and be available to complete the annual service hour requirements of the role. Some of the basic qualifications for this role are:
- an interest in environmental science and sustainability;
- passion and enthusiasm for recycling, composting, sustainability;
- ability to maintain leadership of diversity, equity, and inclusion;
- ability to foster team work, be respectful and collaborate with others; and
- to be dependability when assigned a Volunteer task.
There are many perks to volunteering with UCRRA! The official certificate of completion is great for any emerging professional to add community service and credibility to their resume. Our volunteers gain professional leadership skills through an immersive training that helps prepare for experiences in public speaking and educating in diverse community settings. Volunteers can find personal satisfaction in helping their community to understand environmental issues and spread awareness of the local solutions, improve the quality and consistency of community recycling practices, enhance soil health and climate resiliency through composting and food sustainability, and think differently about “waste” and the local circular economy. Last but not least, our volunteers join a network of neighbors united by their desire to build a more sustainable community!
Interested persons should review the Volunteer Description and the current MCR Class Schedule linked below. Then, complete a Volunteer Application and indicate if you’d like to be considered for the “fast track” or if you’d like to work towards the full Certification.
Submit application materials to:
Angelina Brandt
UCRRA Director of Sustainability
APEO@UCRRA.ORG
P.O. BOX 6219 Kingston NY 12402
We’re grateful for our volunteers!
Testimonials of enrolled volunteers appear here. Check back for more as we grow this program. We’re actively recruiting!
I had been composting for years, and I liked the idea of being able to expand my knowledge and offer advice and tips to others in my community. I learned so much useful info about how to up my composting game and all about our local recycling rules, many of which I share with anyone who will listen!
The course was powerful, the depth far exceeded my expectations, and every session was uniquely interactive and extremely well organized. I have been dedicated to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle for decades and thought I was well-informed. From the first hour however, I was stunned to discover how much I was missing, how much I misunderstood, and how vital education is for Ulster County and beyond. Other than dragging barrels to the end of the driveway or whipping through the transfer station, most people never give their trash and recycling another thought. Countering distance and disassociation with education and engagement is imperative.
Recycling and composting are two things that support circularity in our consumer economy. Recycling allows some of our packaging to return to the manufacturing industry, so that once we’ve used them, they don’t go straight to a landfill. Compost helps return organic material to the earth increasing soil health, which is helpful for food crops, groundwater, and even better air quality. The great thing about UCRRA’s Master Composter course is that you can learn more about the best and worse things in recycling and composting and use the information to teach others in our community. One of the most difficult tasks is getting people to understand the difference between some common misconceptions and reality. Angelina Brandt and Tanesia White break the information into accessible, understandable segments that make it much easier to share widely without spreading misinformation, or seeming overly pushy when speaking to neighbors about how it all works!
Being part of the Master Recycler and Composter class was an incredibly fulfilling experience. I was inspired to join because I believe the Earth is a living, breathing entity that sustains us, and it is our responsibility to protect and nurture it. This training deepened my understanding of sustainability while emphasizing the importance of inclusion, resilience, and community engagement. I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a greener future and help others make a meaningful impact through waste reduction and composting. Thank you UCRRA for this incredible experience and opportunity !