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Helping You Be Part of the Change
What is the
CommunityCheck toolkit?
This toolkit, based on StudentForce for Sustainability's
CommunityCheck project, aims to raise awareness and
encourage real change by providing you with the tools
necessary to enable
the staff, managers and visitors of publicly accessible
buildings to consume more sustainably within their
communities.
This toolkit covers the main elements of the
sustainable consumption audit as well as other procedures such as
promoting the project, training volunteers and
evaluating the project. In the pane on the right you can
see a full list of tools provided in the toolkit. These
tools are also linked in the
respective sections of this website where you will be
able to find more information about the CommunityCheck
process and how to use the tools effectively.
How a CommunityCheck
Works...
The CommunityCheck team, made up of three to four
trained volunteers, visits at a time convenient to
the organisation and goes through the Checklist along
with a representative from that organisation. The team
tries to get to know the organisation and its building -
taking a tour of the premises when possible. They cover
areas such as waste, water, energy, purchasing,
transport, access and management.
Next a report is written up detailing the organisation's
performance. It also contains practical, relevant
recommendations which aim to reduce the organisations'
environmental impact, raise environmental awareness and
save money.
The organisation is offered the assistance of a
CommunityCheck Champion who will be able to provide
closer support and assist in achieving change.
Six months after the initial visit, a follow up ReCheck
is carried out to determine how much progress has been
made in terms of following up on the recommendations of
the initial report. A ReCheck report is then written up
charting this progress and returned to the organisation.
The main stages of a CommunityCheck are
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Initial contact and preparations
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Site
visit with checklist
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Analysis and reporting of results
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Support by CommunityCheck Champion
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ReCheck
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ReCheck report
Who Can Have a Check?
At StudentForce
organisations with publicly accessible buildings were
offered the opportunity of having a CommunityCheck done.
These initially included:
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Food and drink places
e.g. cafes, pubs and hotels
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Health and beauty
places e.g. doctors and hairdressers
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Community places e.g.
visitor/community centres, day centres
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Faith Organisations
e.g. churches, temples and mosques
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Schools e.g. primary
schools and colleges
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Garages
Across this range of
publicly accessible buildings the project achieved:
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· 15.3%
improvement in operations (resource use/management,
transport, alternative purchasing etc)
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· 13.1%
in terms of their management (knowledge and good
practice, procedures and instructions, environmental
records etc)
Case Studies
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