Impact

We are incredibly proud of what our CAG Devon groups are achieving. They are making a considerable impact on reducing waste in Devon and encouraging other members of their community to live more sustainably. Perhaps less quantifiable but equally important is the impact these groups are having on community cohesion and wellbeing – giving people an opportunity to spend time together, learn new skills, and get to know their neighbours a little better.

We magnify this impact, by helping local community action groups to establish and organise themselves, promote their activities, learn and share skills, and support each other as they grow.

Here’s a summary of what the CAG Devon network achieved in 2019-20:

• 265 events with 8,548 attendees
• 6,831 volunteer hours, worth £102,305 of time contributed by the groups
• 4.86 tonnes of waste prevented
• 2.72 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill or incineration
• 18.54 tonnes of carbon emissions avoided

The CAG Devon project team was rated 4 or 5 out of 5 for quality of support by 90% of community group volunteers.

How we measure our impact

To measure the impact the CAG Devon project is having, we use the Resource Community Impacts Tool (ResourceCIT). This is an online tool for community groups and funders to estimate the impact they are having on reducing waste, carbon, energy use and saving costs for individuals and the community.

Our community groups submit data from the activities they carry out; we are then able to generate individual reports on each group’s achievements and calculate the impact we have had collectively across the CAG Devon network.