Shrub Co-op

The SHRUB Co-op aims to reduce waste by providing a platform for people to engage with sustainability. It is student-led, but anybody can get involved. We run a Swapshop, where people can swap their ‘waste’ things for items swapped in by others, a Freeshop (for members of the co-operative), a beginners Bicycle repair and maintenance workshop, upcycling and upskilling workshops, Social Justice Movie Nights, and host a food-sharing group who tackle food waste.


Current opportunities

Key tasks: We have a number of different roles available from shop floor volunteers (Welcoming and informing customers at the Shrub, working on the till, keeping the shop floor tidy, chatting to customers about carbon literacy and sustainable fashion ) to pricing and sorting (helping in the stockroom, sorting and pricing donations, working out which things to keep and which things to pass on) as well as helping with merchandising and displays. We would also love to have some volunteers with particular interests (e.g. graphic design, photography, organisation skills).

Welfare Volunteers work together helping to ensure the mental, physical and emotional wellbeing of volunteers and members of the SHRUB Coop. This could include helping create accessible welfare policies, assisting with workshops and drop in sessions and arbitrating conflicts and complaints - not all volunteers have to take part in all tasks, giving the volunteers opportunity to focus on their interest areas. We ask for a minimum commitment of 6 months of volunteering, approximately 2-3h/week.

Supporting writing and editing grant applications, funding-related administrative tasks, researching and liaising with suitable funders, attending our fortnightly funding working group meeting.

Evening volunteering is split between managing stock in the Food Sharing Hub (organising donated food stock, ensuring it is stored appropriately and distributed between our shelves and our partners, recording where food is going) and moving food between different locations (collecting food from local suppliers, dropping food off with local partners such as hostels and shelters). Morning shifts consist of setting up our Food Sharing section in the Zero Waste Hub to make sure it is neat, tidy and that all food is safely stored/displayed. We are particularly keen to recruit volunteers who can commit to Tuesday, Friday or Sunday mornings.