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!