Improving quality of life in our communities

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Good afternoon and welcome to

 

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this episode of Ask the Expert.

 

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This time we're joined by two Veolia

experts to talk about how we are adding

 

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to value to the communities

beyond the ways

 

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you might normally expect.

 

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My name is Martyn Fuller,

 

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and when I'm not hosting this broadcast,

I'm the head of Marketing

 

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Responsible Business and Proposals here at

Veolia in the UK.

 

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Social value is a term we've all become

 

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a lot more familiar with in recent years.

 

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It refers to the positive value

businesses can create for the economy,

 

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the environment and society. At Veolia,

 

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this is really important to us.

 

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It's part

of our ecological transformation purpose

 

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and we support regional development

by creating jobs, supporting

 

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local economies and the services

we deliver in water, energy and waste.

 

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Improve the local and global environment.

 

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But we also do so much more.

 

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Some things that may surprise you,

 

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may inform you, may educate you,

and I hope today

 

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inspire you. Things from supporting

grassroots community projects to providing

 

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funding for large scale initiatives.

 

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And I'm joined

by a couple of Veolia experts today

 

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to tell us all more about this.

 

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One of our speakers is only the second

person to appear twice on Ask the Expert.

 

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Andrew Brown, executive director

of the Veolia Environmental Trust.

 

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It's almost a year to the day since Andrew

joined us to talk about the great work

 

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the Trust does.

 

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But today, he's going to give us an update

on what the trust has been working on,

 

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including the achievement

of a very exciting milestone.

 

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Joining Andrew is Rachel Jay.

 

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Rachel Jay,

our head of regional Communications.

 

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Rachel and her team support the

delivery of some fantastic initiatives

 

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that make a real difference right at

the heart of the communities we work in.

 

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I'm looking forward to hearing more

about some of these stories shortly.

 

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But first, Andrew and Rachel.

 

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Would you like to introduce yourselves

maybe? Andrew First.

 

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Yeah. Hi.

 

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Thanks.

 

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Martyn I'm Andrew Brown,

executive director at the Veolia

 

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Environmental Trust and very privileged

to be here for the second time.

 

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I feel like I should get

some kind of badge to go with that.

 

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Well, it's between you and Heather Foster.

 

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She's. And you know what she's like.

 

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Rachel, over to you.

 

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Hi there, everyone.

 

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I'm Rachel Jay.

 

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I'm Veolia’s

head of regional communications.

 

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So my role I look after all of our teams

across the country that work

 

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with our local authority

partners, delivering behaviour change,

 

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social value and education

through the communities that we serve.

 

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Welcome, Rachel. Are you up for the fight?

 

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Are you ready to appear

 

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and become a long time resident of the Ask

the Expert panel?

 

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I'd like to think that I could be Martyn.

 

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Could get there, couldn't we?

 

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Andrew, I will come to you first with

 

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a question and Rachel, I'll follow you shortly.

 

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Andrew, we've already talked about this

being your second appearance.

 

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Can you remind us about the Veolia

Environmental Trust, what it's all about,

 

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and the kind of projects it supports?

 

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Yeah, sure.

 

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So and Veolia Environmental

Trust is a registered charity,

 

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and we were established over

25 years ago now.

 

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And our main purpose is to help.

 

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Veolia distribute charitable

 

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funding through something

called the Landfill Communities Fund,

 

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and that's a UK government

tax credit scheme that allows

 

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landfill operators to give some of the tax

revenues that they collect

 

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directly to community

and environmental projects in England.

 

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So we're one of the largest funders

in the Landfill

 

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Communities Fund, awarding around

£5 million each year,

 

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and that's the projects that are within

ten miles of a Veolia landfill site.

 

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And we fund everything from

 

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playgrounds to nature reserves

 

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and from community centres to local parks.

 

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And I think one interesting thing

about the trust

 

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that I think I hinted at last time,

but it is now very much a reality,

 

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is that we recently reviewed our purpose

and our mission

 

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and we're now placing a much stronger

emphasis on projects

 

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that address the climate

and nature crises.

 

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So we're looking to fund projects

that benefit the local community,

 

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but also contribute

to tackling those global problems

 

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like climate change and biodiversity loss.

 

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That’s great.

 

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It's such a moving feast, isn't it?

 

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I'll just short message to anybody

watching anything

 

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that's shareable or link able will do so

in the comments following this podcast.

 

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So hopefully

you'll be able to pick it up there.

 

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And if you've got any questions

for our guests,

 

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please feel free

to add them to the comments.

 

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And if we have the opportunity,

we'll make sure we get an answer for you.

 

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Andrew Last year you told us about

 

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some of your stand standout projects

that the Trust has funded over the years.

 

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Are there any projects that you've awarded

funding to

 

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since then

that really struck a chord in your heart?

 

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Yeah, absolutely.

 

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I mean, it's really hard to to choose

favourites because I think you and I,

 

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since you and I last spoke Martyn

and we've made about a hundred

 

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more awards, but some of the standout ones

in the last year,

 

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I think the first one is a project

 

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in Lewes in East Sussex,

 

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and it's a project to return

 

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a cockshut stream to a more natural cause.

 

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So this is a this is a process

known colloquially as River

 

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Re wiggling, and you might have heard

it mentioned on the

 

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in various places

on Countryfile a while back and so on.

 

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But basically over the years lots of

 

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rivers have been

 

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straightened,

mainly for sort of agricultural purposes

 

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and that has lots of negative effects

for biodiversity and downstream flooding.

 

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So we've awarded £280,000

to the Railway Land

 

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Wildlife Trust, working in partnership

with Lewis District Council

 

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to recreate a more natural

 

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meandering course, of the cockshut stream,

 

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and that then creates natural pools

and areas of slow flowing water,

 

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which is really ideal for fish

and invertebrates to breed.

 

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And so it's a great, great,

exciting project, great for biodiversity

 

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and good climate change

credentials as well,

 

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and works

progressing really well on that project.

 

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And we think it's it's not going

to be very long at all before they

 

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break the banks of the existing stream and

let the water flow into its new course.

 

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So that's going to be a really

exciting moment.

 

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I think

 

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one other one to

 

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mention more of a community project

than than

 

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a sort of pure environmental one,

but with some really good

 

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environmental things thrown in.

 

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So this is Lostock

Park in Stretford in Manchester,

 

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and it's a collaboration

between Friends of Lostock Park

 

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and the One Trafford Partnership,

and that's a project to create

 

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a skatepark, woodland walking and running

trail and an outdoor gym.

 

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And the idea is to provide a safe

and inclusive space

 

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for local people to connect with

and enjoy the environment.

 

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And I think one nice feature

about this project,

 

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which is why it's on my list of ones

I really favour,

 

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The Woodland

Trail is going to be created

 

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by an environmental volunteer

led organisation called the Conservation

 

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Volunteers,

or you might in the TCV for short.

 

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And what they do is create

or care for community green spaces.

 

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And so they've been involved with loads

 

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of other excellent projects

that we've funded over the years.

 

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So I'm really looking forward to

when seeing the finished results.

 

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And this one.

 

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Fabulous River Re wiggling is not a

phrase I thought I would hear

 

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but fabulous.

 

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You know, it always amazes me

that the breadth of the projects

 

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and the impacts

that it has, they’re real impacts.

 

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Rachel, I want to come to you now.

 

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I know there have been some real standout

moments

 

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for you, too, from the projects

you've supported over the past year.

 

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Can you tell us a little bit

about some of those?

 

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Yeah, absolutely.

 

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So through Veolia’s sustainability fund,

we offer small grants,

 

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so it's up to £1,000

for community organisations

 

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that want to help

transform their local environment.

 

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We started our funding journey

 

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back in London in 2017

with a real focus on recycling projects.

 

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But in 2021 the Fund went National

 

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And we expanded our focus

to cover the wider sustainability agenda.

 

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Since then, we've

 

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since

2017, we've supported over 200 projects

 

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with over £200,000 in funding,

and we're growing that fund year on year.

 

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So we support all kinds of projects.

 

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You know, we'll look at anything

that fits with our criteria

 

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and with Veolia’s purpose,

 

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and we really encourage organisations

that want to apply to us to have a think

 

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about how they can build sustainability

and build that into their projects.

 

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So for example, you know,

we absolutely love a community garden,

 

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but we'd be much more likely

to fund that community garden

 

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if it's been designed using reused

or reclaimed materials,

 

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if perhaps the planting

has a focus on biodiversity

 

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or if it might be growing produce

that will be used

 

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to feed the local community

and then just to touch on a couple

 

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of recent standout projects from the year

that's been so one.

 

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The Warm Café is a lovely initiative done

in Southend on Sea

 

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Ice Saves food waste

 

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and the local supermarket offers it

to the local back to the local community,

 

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providing warm food and shelter

during the cold winter months.

 

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So we're not only looking

at the food waste agenda,

 

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they're also supporting some of the most

vulnerable members of the community.

 

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Another one, recycled robots.

 

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So working with children

from Kingston in South London to transform

 

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waste into moving robots, which as you can

imagine, the children absolutely love.

 

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But it's not

 

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only encouraging their creativity

and it's getting them to think differently

 

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about materials and about waste

and how they use those products

 

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and really sparking their imaginations

and inspiring them to become

 

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perhaps the environmentalists of the future,

which is what we really need.

 

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But if I may, Martyn,

I'll touch on one last project

 

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that I really want to mention.

 

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We've been lucky enough

to work with schools

 

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across the country in 2022

to launch the Veolia Orchard.

 

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Now, what you might not know,

 

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listening out there is actually only takes

five fruit trees to make an orchard

 

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orchard and our projects offer schools

the chance to have their very own orchard

 

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where children can learn

about the planting,

 

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caring for the trees,

as well as the biodiversity

 

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and the food source

that those trees create.

 

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And it has been staggeringly popular,

especially with urban schools.

 

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And the last year we gave away

500 trees to 100 schools and it's a living

 

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network of trees all making a difference

for communities and for our planet.

 

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Rachel, thank you for sharing the.

 

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The recycled robots were specifically

thank you for talking about Veolia Orchard

 

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Actually is an a project many of us are

absolutely thrilled to be connected with.

 

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And not just that.

 

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It's some of the photos we've seen

from the schools and the feedback

 

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from the schools have been amazing

and it really does make a difference.

 

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And I think it really highlights to me

the difference that can be made

 

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with a small amount of money donated

and a large amount of money donated.

 

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And it's not really the money,

it's the attention to detail and the care

 

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and the working in that community

that's so important.

 

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But what's next for projects

like The Orchard?

 

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We're going to go even bigger this year.

 

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I think. You know, we are.

 

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Martyn! Both The Orchard

and the Sustainability Fund are

 

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currently open for applications,

And this year we've got twice

 

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the amount of trees available to give away

and over £100,000 in community funding.

 

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So it's a really great opportunity to get

involved wherever you are in the country.

 

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So okay, yeah, that's that's bigger.

 

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Speaking of bigger than Andrew,

You know, game on.

 

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You mentioned

the trust has reached a new milestone

 

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for the amount of funding

that's been awarded.

 

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What's been the impact of the awarding

this, this,

 

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how much funding over this year.

 

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Yeah, that's right, Yeah.

 

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So in March

we passed the milestone of having awarded

 

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more than £100 million

since we were founded in 1997.

 

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Yeah. It was one of those pinch yourself.

 

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Yeah. A moment.

 

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So, you know, we're in the business

of kind of giving away money

 

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to, to projects, but even for us, that

that feels like a huge thing.

 

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And the impact has been really wide.

 

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You know, as I mentioned earlier,

 

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there are lots of different types

of projects that we fund.

 

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So I had a little bit of a trawl

back through the figures

 

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and found, you know, we funded

 

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nearly 900 community centres

 

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to the tune of nearly £33 million, 334

 

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play areas,

360 nature reserves, 260 sports

 

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facilities, 180 parks,

50 woodlands, 35 community gardens.

 

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And when you think of all of those spread

across the country,

 

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that that's a huge number of communities

who have their quality of life

 

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and wellbeing improved through and through

the funding that we've given out.

 

00:13:41:10 - 00:13:45:22

And I think many of those grants

that we made, they're just small grants.

 

00:13:45:22 - 00:13:49:00

And, you know, like you and Rachel

were both saying, small grants

 

00:13:49:00 - 00:13:52:23

are really important to communities

and our first award

 

00:13:52:23 - 00:13:58:11

was just £4,000 to Ancells Farm Nature

Reserve on the South Downs.

 

00:13:59:01 - 00:14:02:13

And but we also know

that the larger grants

 

00:14:02:13 - 00:14:07:08

and that we've made over the years

can can be massively transformative, too.

 

00:14:07:08 - 00:14:13:04

So I think I mentioned to you last time

the nearly 750,000 that we awarded

 

00:14:13:04 - 00:14:17:04

to Lancashire Wildlife

Trust for the Winmalee and Astley

 

00:14:17:04 - 00:14:23:01

Moss projects in Manchester

and where they preserved vital peatlands

 

00:14:23:01 - 00:14:27:11

and helped re-establish the endangered

Manchester Argus butterfly.

 

00:14:27:24 - 00:14:29:15

So there's lots of impacts like that.

 

00:14:29:15 - 00:14:33:00

And then there's more,

some more of the more tangible things.

 

00:14:33:00 - 00:14:39:06

And so in our in 2021, 22

and our figures show that we helped

 

00:14:39:06 - 00:14:45:01

create 49 jobs,

as well as sustaining another 190 jobs.

 

00:14:46:05 - 00:14:48:19

And our funding resulted in an additional

 

00:14:50:11 - 00:14:52:16

1950 adults

 

00:14:52:16 - 00:14:56:19

and 730 young people

volunteering in that community.

 

00:14:56:19 - 00:15:00:23

So since a lot going on from

just small amounts

 

00:15:00:23 - 00:15:04:14

of funding in those communities.

 

00:15:04:23 - 00:15:06:00

Thanks, Andrew.

 

00:15:06:00 - 00:15:10:02

It again,

it's it's one of these conversations

 

00:15:10:02 - 00:15:13:02

and the more I get into these

and these conversations

 

00:15:13:02 - 00:15:15:14

with the pair of you,

we often do talk about this stuff.

 

00:15:16:06 - 00:15:18:19

It just changes my

 

00:15:18:19 - 00:15:22:02

my perspective of what we do

and the impact

 

00:15:22:02 - 00:15:24:21

we have an impact

other businesses could have

 

00:15:26:11 - 00:15:29:00

it just what they can achieve,

 

00:15:30:02 - 00:15:32:19

not because they are great

amounts of funding, not with,

 

00:15:32:19 - 00:15:35:01

you know, massive amounts,

but just paying that

 

00:15:35:02 - 00:15:37:15

little bit of attention

and being part of the community.

 

00:15:38:08 - 00:15:41:07

Why do you two both think that projects

like The Orchard

 

00:15:41:07 - 00:15:45:00

and the types of initiatives

that are funded by the Sustainability Fund

 

00:15:45:00 - 00:15:49:14

and the Veolia environmental Trust

are so important to local communities?

 

00:15:50:20 - 00:15:51:18

Rachel

 

00:15:53:01 - 00:15:55:22

Well, for me, Martyn,

I think it's about empowering communities

 

00:15:55:22 - 00:15:58:11

to take action

to make the change that they want to see.

 

00:15:59:00 - 00:16:01:22

It's not for Veolia to dictate

what projects people should take

 

00:16:01:22 - 00:16:04:17

on, but we've got funds,

we've got equipment.

 

00:16:04:22 - 00:16:06:02

We've got skills.

 

00:16:06:02 - 00:16:09:01

We've got person power so we can really

help those projects to thrive.

 

00:16:09:09 - 00:16:11:07

And what we see is that when communities

 

00:16:11:07 - 00:16:14:01

take ownership of something

for themselves, it's lasting.

 

00:16:14:11 - 00:16:18:07

So that orchard, that garden,

that community cafe will be cherished

 

00:16:18:07 - 00:16:19:02

for years to come.

 

00:16:19:02 - 00:16:22:08

And that builds a huge amount of pride.

 

00:16:22:11 - 00:16:24:04

Andrew, what do you think?

 

00:16:24:04 - 00:16:26:12

Yeah, I agree totally with Rachel on that.

 

00:16:26:13 - 00:16:28:05

And I would add as well

 

00:16:28:05 - 00:16:32:01

know, there used to be this perception

that community projects

 

00:16:32:04 - 00:16:35:18

and environment environmental projects

were two separate things.

 

00:16:36:05 - 00:16:39:19

But I think now that climate change

is on our doorstep,

 

00:16:39:23 - 00:16:43:12

we know that you can't improve

health, prosperity

 

00:16:43:12 - 00:16:46:20

and wellbeing in communities

without tackling climate change.

 

00:16:47:08 - 00:16:49:15

And similarly,

you can't take climate action

 

00:16:49:15 - 00:16:52:01

without bringing communities with you.

 

00:16:52:01 - 00:16:55:05

So the funding like ours

and the Sustainability Fund

 

00:16:55:05 - 00:16:58:22

and the Veolia Orchard,

I think they all normalise

 

00:16:58:22 - 00:17:02:21

the idea that community and environment

are the same thing.

 

00:17:02:21 - 00:17:06:20

And I think that's that's good for

communities and an environment all around.

 

00:17:08:06 - 00:17:09:00

Thanks, Andrew.

 

00:17:09:00 - 00:17:13:08

That reminds me of part of our purpose

about the indivisible whole

 

00:17:13:18 - 00:17:14:22

and that we don't take

 

00:17:14:22 - 00:17:18:24

any of our business decisions

just purely based on one aspect.

 

00:17:19:12 - 00:17:23:13

That all has to be brought together,

whether that's the community,

 

00:17:23:13 - 00:17:28:07

society, employees, the environment,

our shareholders, our customers.

 

00:17:29:07 - 00:17:31:08

I've got one more question for you both,

 

00:17:32:15 - 00:17:36:10

and it's an obvious one

that we should certainly answer.

 

00:17:36:20 - 00:17:39:12

How do customers and communities

get involved?

 

00:17:39:20 - 00:17:43:06

Rachel So we are open for applications

 

00:17:43:06 - 00:17:46:12

now for both the Sustainability Fund

and Veolia orchard.

 

00:17:46:20 - 00:17:50:13

So you can go to Veolia.co.uk

forward slash communities

 

00:17:50:13 - 00:17:53:04

to find out about both of those projects

and to apply.

 

00:17:53:13 - 00:17:56:16

And you know, if you're listening out

there, we're all part of a community.

 

00:17:56:24 - 00:17:58:11

Please feel free to pass it on.

 

00:17:58:11 - 00:18:00:22

We really look forward

to receiving your applications.

 

00:18:01:23 - 00:18:04:01

And Andrew, what about the trust?

 

00:18:04:01 - 00:18:08:13

Yes. So our next funding round

will be opening on the 31st of August

 

00:18:08:15 - 00:18:11:13

with an application

deadline of 5th of October, and

 

00:18:11:13 - 00:18:13:22

we then go on to make awards in December.

 

00:18:14:15 - 00:18:16:23

If you go to VeoliaTrust.org,

 

00:18:16:23 - 00:18:19:13

you can find out

more and apply for funding.

 

00:18:20:00 - 00:18:23:10

I am also pleased to say that

we're bringing our funding

 

00:18:23:10 - 00:18:28:09

to a new area this round,

and that's to Skelmersdale in Lancashire.

 

00:18:28:22 - 00:18:30:06

So if you live in that area,

 

00:18:30:06 - 00:18:34:08

keep an eye out for more information

in the local press over the coming days.

 

00:18:35:05 - 00:18:36:05

That’s fantastic.

 

00:18:36:05 - 00:18:38:08

We've had a great question, from

 

00:18:38:21 - 00:18:40:23

and I hope I'm going to pronounce

this right, Huzefa,

 

00:18:41:13 - 00:18:44:23

who's asked

whether Veolia invests in their employees

 

00:18:44:23 - 00:18:49:04

to bring awareness in waste management

and recycling in terms of sustainability.

 

00:18:49:07 - 00:18:51:02

Rachel, how would you answer that?

 

00:18:52:01 - 00:18:52:19

Well.

 

00:18:53:04 - 00:18:55:00

I don't think you can work at Veolia

 

00:18:55:00 - 00:18:58:20

without gaining some awareness of waste

and recycling.

 

00:18:58:20 - 00:19:01:11

It's,

you know, it's so integral to what we do.

 

00:19:02:01 - 00:19:04:23

But having said that,

you know, education is really important.

 

00:19:04:23 - 00:19:07:05

And from my point of view,

 

00:19:07:05 - 00:19:09:03

you know,

as someone who works in the business,

 

00:19:09:03 - 00:19:11:10

I think it's something

that the business really recognises.

 

00:19:11:10 - 00:19:15:06

We've got some great training options that

people can go for at different levels.

 

00:19:15:06 - 00:19:18:11

And, you know, education

is something that I see, you know,

 

00:19:18:12 - 00:19:21:06

going through our operations

at every level.

 

00:19:22:05 - 00:19:23:03

I think you're right.

 

00:19:23:03 - 00:19:24:09

It is one of those things.

 

00:19:24:09 - 00:19:27:17

I think perhaps we even

maybe take it for granted sometimes.

 

00:19:27:22 - 00:19:31:20

Being surrounded by water, energy and waste

 

00:19:31:20 - 00:19:35:09

and our whole of d'etre is about

 

00:19:35:20 - 00:19:39:24

how to do do the right things with these

materials preserve them and protect them,

 

00:19:40:24 - 00:19:42:01

provide access to them.

 

00:19:42:01 - 00:19:44:12

So it's it's there. But.

Thanks for your question.

 

00:19:44:16 - 00:19:46:00

It's something that we have.

 

00:19:46:00 - 00:19:49:02

Andrew, would you want to add anything

to that in terms of how

 

00:19:49:02 - 00:19:52:11

the trust and Veolia work closely?

 

00:19:52:11 - 00:19:54:15

Yeah, well,

I was just going to mention actually that

 

00:19:55:20 - 00:19:58:02

just this morning I was doing

 

00:19:58:14 - 00:20:01:20

one of Veolia’s

training modules on biodiversity.

 

00:20:02:24 - 00:20:06:15

And yeah,

and the thing that struck me about that

 

00:20:06:15 - 00:20:11:22

is that there was a really clear link

between Veolia’s operations

 

00:20:12:09 - 00:20:15:19

and the,

the cause and effect with biodiversity

 

00:20:15:19 - 00:20:19:13

so that, you know, that kind of training

is all across the organisation.

 

00:20:19:13 - 00:20:23:07

So I was really pleased to see that

everyone is getting that knowledge

 

00:20:23:07 - 00:20:25:15

that what they do on the ground at Veolia

 

00:20:27:05 - 00:20:30:14

can either have a positive or

environmental impact and they're all part

 

00:20:30:18 - 00:20:34:10

of making sure that excuse me,

making sure that impact is positive.

 

00:20:35:08 - 00:20:36:13

Thanks, Andrew.

 

00:20:36:19 - 00:20:39:21

The Huzefa, if I'm pronouncing it

correctly, please forgive me if I'm not.

 

00:20:40:01 - 00:20:41:21

I hope that answers your question.

 

00:20:41:21 - 00:20:45:04

Well, Andrew, Rachel,

our time together is coming to an end.

 

00:20:45:04 - 00:20:47:17

So thank you both for your time.

 

00:20:47:17 - 00:20:51:09

It's been great hearing more about

some of these really worthwhile projects.

 

00:20:51:24 - 00:20:55:12

From recycled robots to river re wriggling.

 

00:20:57:14 - 00:20:58:21

It's been amazing.

 

00:20:58:21 - 00:21:01:10

We're going to have links

to the comment section for this

 

00:21:01:16 - 00:21:04:18

to find out more

and include more information

 

00:21:04:18 - 00:21:08:00

on getting involved with the Veolia

Orchard, the Sustainability

 

00:21:08:00 - 00:21:10:09

Fund, and the Environmental Trust.

 

00:21:11:07 - 00:21:14:22

Our next episode is on the 1st of August

at 11 a.m.

 

00:21:15:07 - 00:21:19:14

and I'm going to be joined by Craig Wilson

from our industrial site services team.

 

00:21:20:13 - 00:21:22:19

Craig's going to be talking to us

about some of the technology

 

00:21:22:19 - 00:21:25:05

and the innovations

that are helping our industrial customers

 

00:21:25:08 - 00:21:28:20

improve efficiency,

safety and productivity.

 

00:21:29:10 - 00:21:32:18

You can listen in and you can listen back

to any of our previous

 

00:21:32:18 - 00:21:36:03

episodes

of Ask the Expert on our podcast page,

 

00:21:36:15 - 00:21:39:00

Veolia.co.uk forward slash

 

00:21:39:11 - 00:21:41:23

podcast hyphen hub. For now

 

00:21:42:06 - 00:21:43:18

Thank you for your attention.

 

00:21:43:18 - 00:21:45:21

Thank you, Andrew. And thank you, Rachel.

 

00:21:45:24 - 00:21:47:23

Goodbye, everybody. Thanks everyone.