Date: 02/02/2020
Type: Community Starter Workshop
Location: Salisbury, Wiltshire
Trainer: Danielle Wilkinson
Participants: 2
This was a small workshop given as part of my Ecobrick Trainer course. Two friends attended the workshop at my flat near Salisbury, Wiltshire, on Sunday 2nd February from 10:30 to 2:30.
Participants brought their own plastic and equipment, but I had spare soft packaging plastic from work as a backup that did end up being used. I prepared guidance and speaking notes for the Workshop slides but in the end this assisted more with my familiarisation of the content in advance than actually being needed on the day.
The theory actually lasted 1.5hrs rather than the 1hr because the participants were engaged in the content and wished to discuss things as we went through. We then progressed to ecobricking (and snacking as we went). Despite both having undertaken some before, we were able to share tips to assist their process (i.e. stuffing down the side of the bottle, and cutting plastic first into a bowl/bag then stuffing). We ran out of time for module making, but I was able to discuss and show the techniques.
One of the participants finished his first ecobrick during the workshop which was later validated. The other participant told me days later that he really enjoyed the content of the Workshop slides and my way of presenting it – getting them engaged in the answers and having little input myself.
Both participants already had an ecobricking technique and were at first unwilling to explore other options. I had to gently explain the issues with their techniques and cajole them to see another way. They also both enjoyed discussing together about ways to speed up the process (paper shredder etc.) so I also had to stress the benefits of it as a meditative and reflective exercise, as well as that ‚industrialisation‘ was one of the issues that got us into this environmental mess. Solutions to it require a different way of thinking.
The ecobricking (while eating) seemed to go very quickly and I ran out of time for module making. I’ll need to keep a better eye on time in future. My upstairs residence does not have windows that open to create airflow so module making is not ideal here anyway.
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England, gobrik