Waste Minimisation & Sustainability Supervisor – Braintree District Council

Braintree, Essex

Full-Time, Temporary

6-month Contract

£16.26 PAYE / £20.85 Umbrella per hour

Closing Date: Monday 20th April 2026

Essex County Council (ECC) are delighted to be supporting Braintree District Council in recruiting a Waste Minimisation & Sustainability Supervisor on an initial 6-month contract.

Due to the nature of this role, the successful candidate will be required to work on-site at least 4 day per week.

The Opportunity:

Responsible for the supervision of the Waste Minimisation and Sustainability team to include team meetings, regular one to ones and coaching and mentoring the team to reach their full potential and motivation

Role Accountabilities:

Team Supervision & Performance: Manage the day-to-day operations of the Waste Minimisation & Sustainability team. This includes assigning tasks, monitoring workloads and performance, and providing regular one-to-one meetings and coaching. Ensure the team remains motivated and targets are met, adjusting staffing or processes as needed to meet service demand. Support staff development and maintain high morale through team building and training and education opportunities.

Public Engagement & Education: Lead community outreach efforts to promote recycling and waste reduction. Develop and deliver educational campaigns and events for the public, with particular emphasis on schools’ outreach and youth engagement to increase awareness of recycling and sustainability. Carry out doorstep visits to residents to provide practical, face to face support, helping households understand how to use the waste and recycling services correctly and addressing any issues or barriers they may be experiencing. Organise and promote local sustainability projects, workshops, and community presentations, serving as a visible ambassador of the Council’s recycling initiatives in the community. Work with the Communications and Marketing team to prepare engaging publicity material including flyers, social media content and website updates that encourage resident participation in waste reduction programmes.

Service Support & Administration: Oversee and continual contribution to administrative tasks to ensure a smooth running service. Maintain up to date procedures and records for the service. Handle statutory or recurring tasks related to waste and recycling operations. Ensure that internal systems are accurately maintained and used to monitor service requests and performance. Take responsibility for key waste related correspondence (managing relevant inboxes and customer communications), ensuring timely, helpful responses to public queries or complaints about waste and recycling services.

Project and Initiative Coordination: Contribute towards the design and presenting of waste minimisation projects that advance the Council’s environmental objectives. This includes planning campaigns, such as food waste reduction, composting promotion and plastics reduction and new recycling initiatives, using approved project management tools to ensure on time, on budget delivery. Continually seek to improve or redesign processes for greater effectiveness and efficiency in waste and recycling services. Actively collaborate with frontline operations staff in developing practical solutions and ideas for improving recycling rates. When rolling out new waste services or major service changes, support the implementation through local engagement and clear public communication.

Customer Focus & Service Improvement: Maintain a strong customer service orientation in all waste and recycling services. Regularly seek feedback from residents, schools, and local businesses about the Council’s waste services and educational outreach. Use this data, along with complaints or service requests, to drive continuous improvement in the way services are delivered. Ensure that information on the Council’s website and public materials regarding recycling, refuse, and related services is kept accurate and up to date. Aim to make services more accessible and engaging, by simplifying recycling guidance for the public and highlighting the positive environmental impact of residents’ actions.

The Experience You Will Bring:

A background in waste and recycling services or sustainability is advantageous.
Proven experience in coordinating or supervising teams and projects is required.
Experience in community engagement or in delivering educational programmes is highly desirable.
A track record of data analysis and reporting to stakeholders is beneficial, given the role’s performance monitoring aspect.
Experience in supervising or leading teams with effective results and development.
Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate at all levels.

What benefits do we offer?

Braintree District Council is proud to be a disability confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.

Braintree District Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

What to do Next

If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website. If you have any queries relating to this post please email Ashleigh.Drake@essex.gov.uk