What makes a 'Waye of Life' cleanup special?

A common activity I can be hired for is to organise a cleanup event.

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Cleanup events can be fun and engaging activity for team-building events.

When they take place around the office, they don't just make a positive impact on the local community, they also give the employees a better appreciation for the environment around their workplace.

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At its heart, a cleanup is a simple affair; get together as a group and go out for around 90mins picking up trash. 

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But, when you bring in someone to assist and lead, then it can really turn the event into something special that will have a longer lasting effect of the participants.

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So what can I bring to an event? What would a Waye of Life cleanup look like?

Well, it is a bit like a menu card, that you can choose a selection from to suit your needs.

And of course, we can tailor any of these items to go as deep or far as you wish.

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At its heart..

As a core activity I advise the following as the basis to build on

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• Have it take place around or near your office location
  This will then have a direct connection with your community - maybe even letting local press or council know - you are doing a positive local action - let's celebrate that!!

• Meet up and greet
  While we are getting together it is an opportunity to engage already - I like to personally meet and greet people and get some smiles on people's faces. This is a fun day, so let's get that energy going from the start! (my banana suit tends to do that haha)

• Introduction and talk
  Once everyone is present when can begin. It is nice to have at least a ten min chat to introduce myself, what I do and what we are about to do as a group (including safety tips). If it is cold out, it is great to have a meet point inside if possible.

• The cleanup

  • A perfect time is around 90mins. 

  • I like people to arrange themselves in groups of 3-4 

  • Although I am a runner, I advise it is best (and more inclusive) to have people just walking. 

  • I talk more about equipment below, but one thing I like to do is tell people that we want to bring all the trash back to the start point (it can be so impactful to see all the trash together) - see the clip below from a Mars cleanup I did.

  • I will actually run around and engage with every group - although people are walking I will end up getting 10-12km of running done just meeting up and having fun with all the different groups. This is one of the unique benefits I try and bring.. engaging with everyone.

  • I will act as the donkey - when people's bags are full I will carry them back to the start for them, so that they can just carry on with a fresh bag - this is a really nice way to engage with the different groups.

• At the end​

  • Time to celebrate the trash collected.

  • I will weigh and measure the trash collected (Litres and Kilograms)​

  • Group photo and video (something like the video with Mars below is a great example)

  • Some closing words - super important to just do a final talk and an interactive closing where we just have a chance to talk about what we found etc.

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The Extras

So if that is at its heart, what extra can I bring as a Waye of Life event, and what else works well?

• Post Event Lunch, Drinks or even Dinner
  Rather than just finish, it is nice to have a lunch/buffet arranged for participants once they have finished So if the cleanup finishes at 12, then sandwiches in the canteen.
  If the cleanup finishes at the end of the day I have had companies organise a BBQ or drinks
  This is perfect and a great chance to celebrate the even and talk more about it. 

• Longer talk/speeches
  As a minimum we can keep to just 10mins before and after, but it is also an opportunity to inspire a deeper change in staff/participants, so we can make this a bigger speech (I find this works best afterwards)
  I can give a talk on multiple subjects and not just plogging - but obviously talking about my 'waye of life' is a great subject
  Just let me know how long I have haha
  I can show videos to support my speech if there is possibility to do it
  Specific subjects

  • Plogging World Championships - in 2022 I came second​

  • How I started plogging

  • 'Having fun today caring for our tomorrows'

  • The importance of being seen doing this (why I wear the banana suit)

  • Finding joy in the moment (I asked myself the question "Am I happy?" "Yes","Am I as happy as I was last month?" "No!" - so I changed my life and have ended up as a professional plogger

  • The impact of the deposit system

  • Changes I have seen over the 14years I have been plogging

  • How plogging can be the change that drives other changes in the world

  • A positve action we can make today that doesn't need change in legislation or companies.

• Competition!​

  • We can turn the cleanup into a fun game - and give out some prizes.​

  • Such ideas as the most unusual piece of trash - if we do that we can make it a fun vote for all rather than a jury decision.

  • I make trash trophies that are perfect for this: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4tiyvHKbnJ/

• Medals/gifts for all​

  • I can make special medals for everyone (there may be an extra cost involved if a big group)​ - that are made from trash

  • Gift everyone a clothes peg! hahah - this is a fun one that holds a nice significance
    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/paulwaye_plogpromise25-plogpromise25-activity-7278358896497332224-8j2W

• Video footage​

  • I will make a video during the event (if people don't want to be filmed it is good to know in advance) - I would love to set this on my socials to celebrate your cleanup, but we can make this a collab post too​

  • You will be given all the raw footage should you wish to use for your own channels and marketing​

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Equipment

Equipment is important..

• Gloves - I like to get people to bring their own gloves (it is a simple way of reducing the footprint of the event), but I can arrange gloves

• Grabbers - grabbers are the prefered method - I have a few but in big groups I can arrange for us to hire some (one of my sponsors does festival cleanups)

• Bin bags - A nice option is to get bags from Supporters van Schoon - buying their bags is a nice way to make it a bit more visible that it is a company event See here. I can arrange to get these (and bill back) or you can just order for this event and to encourage future internal cleanups with

• Rings (like these) - I can arrange to hire these, or we can keep simple and just use a bag without a ring.

• Clothing - again, we can arrange for high vis vests, but I actually prefer if you have company branded clothing to use - let's celebrate that it is YOUR cleanup event!

• Trash team leaders - if the group is relatively small (around 30) then I can handle that on my own, but often it is good to have more guides when the group gets big.
  Sometimes you can simply split the cleanup into different sessions, or, we can bring in additional guides to help coordinate​ - I find that this could simply be volunteers from the company (such as the team helping to organise this - this usually works really well) - but also can bring in additional helpers (again, through one of my main sponsors who do this at festivals - De Groene Lobby)

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Disposing of the trash

Ok.. so we a heap of trash.. what now? haha

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We have a few options

• Your own refuse bins - often we can just put in the bin you use for your own office waste.

• Contact the council/refuse service - we can often arrange to have the local refuse company to come an pick up - it is good PR all around

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Just contact me via the contact form and let's make some plans

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