New Environment and Sustainability Coordinator set to improve Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust’s green credentials

A Doncaster woman who has cared for the environment both at home and across the globe has taken up a new post as Environment and Sustainability Co-ordinator at Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust (DCLT).

Julia Marshall, aged 46, started her new role this month (September) and will be working with the management team at the Trust to coordinate environmental initiatives across the organisation’s 13 leisure venues.

Terry Parker, head of facilities at DCLT, said: “We are really pleased to be welcoming Julia into this new role.

“ She has demonstrated a real passion for caring for the environment in her career, especially the volunteer work that she undertook in Thailand helping Trash Hero as a representative volunteer, organising island clean-ups and education in schools in Koh Tao.

“She also brings with her a wealth of knowledge from the leisure industry and is on a mission to get people in Doncaster to reduce their plastic use.

“This is a really important role for the Trust and Julia will be identifying ways to negate our impact on the environment by reducing our energy consumption, reducing our waste production, and promoting sustainable travel for both customers and staff.

“We are looking forward to working with Julia in this new role and to seeing the improvements that can be made as well as developing community ecology projects.”

The environmental co-ordinator will also be tasked with establishing and driving sustainability forums with staff from across the organisation.

Julia said: “I am really excited to be starting this new role.

I have worked in many places from Cornwall to Tenerife and Thailand but returned to Doncaster last year and have been working part time at the Trust as a receptionist and fitness instructor.

“In my spare time I focused on organising pre loved clothing events and undertook a six month project to collect ‘ecobricks’ from the community to raise awareness of the amount of plastic consumption.

“I am extremely passionate about conservation and have my travels to thank for this. “Witnessing the plastic pollution on both sides of the world really made me rethink my attitude, my purchase, my intake and output.

“My mission is to live in a caring community with open spaces, clean paths and good views. “Wildlife and nature are so important to our future and I believe together we can make things better not just less bad.

“This new role at DCLT shows that the Trust are keen to ensure that their environmental impact is reduced, and they have worked hard in many areas including energy and waste over recent years.

“I’m really looking forward to getting the staff forums up and running and making sure that DCLT is as green as it can be.”