Waste and Recycling Engagement Officers

FIXED - TERM (3 YEARS)

We’re on the lookout for enthusiastic, people-focused individuals who enjoy working outdoors and engaging directly with residents. If you’re someone who brings energy, positivity, and great customer service skills, this is your chance to support our countywide move towards simpler recycling.

New Government legislation, known as ‘Simpler Recycling’, requires councils across England to reduce the amount of waste being thrown away and increase the amount that is reused, recycled, or composted. To meet these new standards, we’re introducing a countywide food waste collection service and enhancing our existing kerbside recycling scheme to make recycling easier for everyone.

In County Durham, households produce around 230,000 tonnes of waste every year. Currently, residents can recycle paper, card, plastics, and cans in their blue‑lidded bin, and glass bottles and jars in a kerbside box. Last year, just under 37% of household waste was recycled — and we’re committed to helping residents do even better.

We’re running a countywide education and customer engagement campaign to support the rollout of the new food waste collection service and promote simpler, clearer recycling. To deliver this, we’re looking for enthusiastic individuals with strong communication and customer service skills to join our team.

As part of the role, you’ll:

• Work closely with our Strategic Waste Management and Operational teams.
• Provide friendly, practical advice to residents through door‑knocking, monitoring activities, and follow‑up visits.
• Deliver engaging presentations, school assemblies, community talks, and attend roadshows to help residents understand the changes.
• Support residents in making the right recycling choices by monitoring kerbside recycling for contamination and offering guidance where needed.

This is a hands‑on, community‑focused role where you’ll be out meeting residents, answering questions, and helping people feel confident about simpler recycling and food waste collections. Your work will play a key part in helping County Durham reduce waste and protect the environment.

• Qualifications:
  
  5 GCSEs (A–C grade) or equivalent
• Ability to work outside normal hours, including evenings and weekends when needed
• A valid driving licence. Please refer to the person specification for the full criteria.

If successful, you will be required to undertake and pass an in‑house driving assessment as part of our pre‑employment checks before any offer of appointment can be confirmed.

Join our online information session on Microsoft Teams where you can find out more about the role and the Waste and Recycling service and ask any questions you may have. We encourage you to join us!

Tuesday 17 February 2026

5:00pm – 6:00pm

Join here:

In the meantime, if you have any questions about this opportunity please email Victoria Burrell (Waste Strategy Team Manager) – vi or Vicky Bell (Waste Projects and Campaigns Team Leader) –

Interviews will be held in March 2026.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that can show they meet all the essential criteria and have indicated they have a disability, are a looked‑after young person, care leaver or a veteran.

We offer a competitive rewards package that includes attractive salaries, a generous annual leave entitlement of 27 days (rising to 32 after five years’ continuous local government service), membership of the excellent contributory career average Local Government Pension Scheme, and a range of flexible working arrangements including hybrid working (home and office) where applicable.

Explore the full range of rewards and benefits on our website

We are a proud equal opportunities employer and believe a diverse workforce brings fresh ideas and drives service improvement. We welcome applications from everyone and make employment decisions based on skills and ability. As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively encourage applications from disabled people and offer support throughout the recruitment process.

Please note, we do not accept CVs. All…