Welcome to a Volunteer Selection Project update.

I found this article and realised I hadn’t published it.

In this article you will find:

• Introduction
• What is the scrap run?
• How Divine Truth and God’s Way got involved in the scrap run project
• What happens to the green waste?
• The purpose and intentions of the scrap run
• Volunteer Selection Project scrap run activity
• Participant involvement with the scrap run
• Participant training

scraps loaded

Environment Learning Centre swales project, green waste

Introduction

During the Volunteer Selection Project participants are required to be involved in a God’s Way Waste Management Programme fondly referred to as the “scrap run” or by a few as the “scrap fun” activity.

This activity runs for the duration of the project and involves participants collecting the greenwaste from town with a facilitator at leas twice during the project.

The scrap run occurs twice per week on a Tuesday and Friday.

There are many gifts involved in the scrap run, both for participants and the environment.

For participants we get to observe how they work in teams (or not), their attitude towards labour intensive work and how efficient, thorougher and self-responsible they are.

Tristan is the facilitator of scrap run training and the practical experience

Environment Learning Centre swales soil creation project -green waste donations

Environment Learning Centre swales soil creation project – cardboard

What is the scrap run?

The scrap run is part of the Waste Management Programme organised and conducted by Divine Truth and God’s Way organisations. It is an agreement between the two organisations and a Fruit and Vegetable Market in Kingaroy, QLD Australia, to remove and dispose of their green waste and cardboard:

• Efficiently
• Whenever scraps need to be removed (2 times per week or 3-4 times per week around public holidays)
• Meeting any legal requirements that the business may have (i.e. Not selling scraps or eating them, meeting safety requirements when collecting green waste from their property)

Scraps from the local produce store

How Divine Truth and God’s Way got involved in the scrap run project

Originally (approx. 5 years ago) Jesus approached the local fruit market and asked if they would like him to do a weekly scrap pick up for them (pick up the produce that they cannot sell due to being rotten, damaged ir past its use by date). They agreed and the scrap run has been running twice per week ever since with either Jesus, Mary or other volunteers and helpers collecting and disposing of the scraps.

A volunteer empties green waste into the Environment Learning Centre swales

Trench ready for scraps and woodchip to be deposited

What happens to the green waste?

• Large trenches, pits or swales are prepared in strategic places on properties that have damaged soil due to a history of land clearing and farming
• The scraps are safely poured into the trenches and holes
• The green waste is covered over with different kinds of mulch material. Types of mulch may include cardboard, Deboisia and hard wood chip (byproducts and/or waste products from other industrial processes )
• The trenches and pits, sometimes referred to as “fertility pits”, have multiple purposes. They:
  • Hold water on the property, rather than let it run off into creeks and rivers that already have water in them
  • Combat erosion as the water runs down the property slopes
  • Allow for the slow release of water to the surrounding flora at root level
  • Breaks down into soil after time

Large hole that has been dug by an excavator

Large pit being constructed with an excavator

Adding green waste to trenches, pits and swales

• • Creates a food source through the decomposition process to intelligent life (worms, microbes, bacteria, fungi, insects etc.)
  • Provides a breeding ground for insects, worms & other intelligent life which have been created to add life to the soil
  • Provides nitrogen and other necessary elements back into the soil
  • Provides a seed bank that can germinate and provide food when the soil in the area is able to support and sustain its growth
  • By covering areas of land with mulch materials it:
    • Provides cover for the ground so that does not become sun leeched
    • Provides cover for the ground so that is not sun leeched
    • Soaks in and holds water for a longer period of time so as to provide slow release of water the surrounding soil and flora
    • Scraps break down to soil after time

Participant training on how to work with gravity to move wood chip efficiently

LC swales soil creation project – green waste

The purpose & intention of the scrap run

Humanity have all contributed directly or indirectly to environmental destruction by eating meat, clearing the natural environment for aesthetic purposes without regard for the damage that we may have been doing to the soil, the living systems that make up the natural environment and the flora and fauna.

Humanity all have compensation to pay when it comes to how we have treated the natural environment. One way to begin to make up for the damage we have caused is by using waste products to help rehabilitate the environment and find ways to stop and prevent further destruction.

The environment in the local area has been degraded through extended cropping, cattle farming and land clearing

• to the point where flora finds it very hard or impossible to grow
• the local wildlife suffers from lack of diverse food and shelter sources
• the soil does not support growth of fruits and nuts for human or fauna consumption

The intention of the scrap run is to:

• Create and share scientifically recorded examples of how a person, or a group of people, can support and hasten the regeneration of the environment, especially on properties that have been cleared and farmed by humans
• Use waste materials from local communities and businesses to promote and sustain life in the environment
• Engage with God’s Principles while providing a service to local communities and businesses
• Serve the local community free of charge
• Use waste materials to promote and sustain life

Participants covering scraps

Elo & Participants covering scraps

Volunteer Selection Project scrap run activity

During the Volunteer Selection Project participants have the opportunity to be involved in the scrap run project. (It is a requirement for participants during the project).

Individuals accompany a facilitator to collect the green waste and then dispose of them. The entire group of participants helps to cover the green waste with mulch on the days they are onsite for the Selection Project. Facilitators have noticed how quickly the scrap run is completed when participants work together as a team.
Purpose

For participants to be involved in a service God’s Way Ltd is already providing to the community so they can experience how beneficial the project is for all parties.

To provide participants with a two-step process that:

• outlines some of the attitudes required to be of service to others and the world
• outlines why a procedure is necessary for any task
• provides instruction on how to tackle a physically challenging task

Tristan trains participants in the scrap run procedure “dry run”

Tristan trains participants in the scrap run procedure “dry run” scrap bin maneuvering

Participant involvement in the scrap run project

The scrap run happens twice a week between 8 am and 12 pm, although this may increase as the whether gets hotter.

The activity is often hot, smelly and labour intensive. For participants who are not used to such work or have physical limitations they are not asked to work harder than they are currently able, however participants will be surprised how much faster and easier an extra pair of hands makes the task.

During the project participants choose two days to work with the facilitator on the scrap run project.

The first time is an observation day where participants:

• Watch and record the procedure that the facilitator undertakes for the scrap run without interference to the facilitator
• While observing, participants focus is on how they can support the facilitator to complete the task, without interrupting the process that is already in place.
• Ask questions about why something is done a certain way or in a certain time frame
• Prepare to be a part of the task without causing any problems for the facilitator or the workers at the stores
• Document the procedure of the scrap run

The second time participants go on the scrap run they apply what they learned and actively support and assist the facilitator to complete the task using their knowledge from the previous observation.

Facilitators have designed the activity this way to make sure that participants:

• start the task once they understand what is trying to be accomplished in both the overall goal and each step of the procedure
• are given the opportunity to see how they can be of service both in the task and to God’s Way
• enter the task asking themselves how to help without slowing the process down or making others responsible for them

To show that a larger group of people can get things done faster, easier and with less effort only if each person understands the procedure of the task.

Tristan training participants

Participant training on how to move woodchip

Participant training

Participants are trained on the first two days of the Volunteer Selection Project in safety and basic scrap run procedure. All participants are trained in safety and the task process before participating in the activity.

Facilitator demonstrate how to:

• move bins off and on to the ute and trailer
• dump the scraps in the most energy efficient, safe and time saving manner
• tie down the bins on the ute and trailer so that they are safe and do not cause problems to drivers on the roads

Emptying a wheelbarrow of mulch

Participant teamwork finishes covering scraps in 15 – 20 minutes

Loading wheelbarrows to cover scraps

Participants completing covering scraps

Cleaning tools and equipment after scrap run completion

We would like to thank the God’s Way Ltd volunteers who took the photos in this post. I love using the images you are gifting to us!

We hope this post helps you think of ways you may be able to lovingly use waste to rehabilitate the environment.

Until next time, all the best from

Eloisa, Tristan & the Volunteer Selection Project Team

A participant from the October intake of the Volunteer Selection Project demonstrating why it is called the scrap fun activity (you can play in it)