PROPS is a charity supporting adults with learning disabilities to gain work skills and put them into practice through meaningful work opportunities in a range of projects and enterprises.

We want to set up a community compost project in Fishponds, Bristol, which will provide employment for PROPS trainees and create an environmental legacy for the local community.

The project will offer learning and skill development opportunities for trainees around sustainability and environmental impact, as well as a chance to engage the local community and create a valuable community asset.

How will it work?

Our exciting new community project will use food waste, garden and allotment waste from the local area to produce high quality and environmentally beneficial compost! 

The PROPS Community Compost project will collect waste from various drop off points which PROPS trainees will transport to the main site at Thingwall Park Allotments (Fishponds, Bristol).  

What is our vision?

We see this project as an opportunity to:

• Reduce food waste
• Provide a sustainable asset for the local community
• Help adults with learning disabilities to gain environmental work skills
• Create a hub for adults with learning difficulties to inspire and educate other members of the community about environmental issues such as soil health, waste reduction

How are we getting on?

We took on an extra area of land in between our allotment patch and our neighbours which had become totally overgrown and wild. It was a perfect patch for us because we knew there was enough space to build the compost system as well as be fully wheelchair accessible with the support of this campaign. 

Over a few weeks of hard work our trainees cleared the area and began levelling the ground. We removed 2 dead trees, piles of brambles bags of rubbish and old bits of wood.

What's next?

We have worked in collaboration with a local branch of Men's Sheds who we contracted to build our bins. They are a fantastic charity working to tackle loneliness and isolation in older men by having space to build friendships and learn skills. Once they are finished their side we plan to bring the nearly finished bins to our allotment in Bristol and install them together with the help of our trainees. 

Men's Sheds - https://menssheds.org.uk/about/what-is-a-mens-shed/

What will the money we raise enable us to do?

Having the compost bins as accessible as we can is a must! We will be able to place permeable paving slabs to ensure wheelchair users can enjoy the compost bins and take active roles in maintaining and working on the compost. Permeable paving allows vertical and horizontal water runoff to also make sure we meet our environmental standards. 

So we can transport everything from our collection points and the main site we want to buy some quality and user friendly containers.