StudentForce for Sustainability is an educational charity that is helping young people, students and those who have graduated within the last three years to work with local government, businesses and community groups on paid project work relating to all areas of sustainable development.

The charity has recognised that many under-graduates, graduates and post-graduates with sustainable, environmental, or community backgrounds are having enormous problems in acquiring vital relevant work experience. StudentForce aims to bridge this gap by providing a full package of support to the project worker, including guidance on job hunting, career development, interview preparation and ongoing mentoring throughout the project life.

Individual project workers acquire better skills and understanding for longer-term employment related to sustainability and are subject to many networking opportunities with a wide range of individuals and organisations. StudentForce has and is working with a wide range of organisations on varied initiatives, and there are numerous opportunities available in various sectors. Payment is currently between £155 and £250 a week. Some of the charity's achievements include:

• the "rethink rubbish" campaign: StudentForce, Essex County Council and WasteWatch have embarked on a partnership project, whereby StudentForce has recruited 25 project workers to participate in a "doorstepping" campaign to raise recycling in the county by 10 per cent. StudentForce has provided training for all project workers and is currently taking a supporting role;

• StudentForce is working with Immingham's community economic regeneration team on varied projects ranging from environmental advocacy to energy efficiency;

• the Peterborough Environment City Trust Business and Environmental Management Scheme: a team of graduate support workers (recruited by StudentForce) is on hand to help businesses implement their environmental management systems (EMS) and offer practical advice on reducing their associated costs. The scheme offers realistic advice on environmental best practice and legislation for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Companies registered to the scheme use a specially designed EMS (available on CD-ROM), which helps them systematically track energy, water, and materials consumption, waste streams, purchasing and vehicle use;

• the Fresh Faces Energy Efficiency Programme: managed by StudentForce, the programme promotes energy efficiency advice through the use of recent graduates. Those assisted include SMEs, architects, advice centres and housing associations, all of whom don't have the time, money or resources to implement the measures themselves. Supporters include the DETR, PowerGen plc, the Institute of Energy, National Energy Foundation, and the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Excitingly, through the availability of such projects it may be possible to assist environmental health undergraduates in finding that all important 24-week placement in the third year (existing placements vary between eight and 52 weeks). At any one time, there are numerous environmental projects that are being recruiting for, based around waste minimisation, energy efficiency and environmental management.

StudentForce has a first class track record of serving to enhance employability of the project workers it has supported. In the last year, around 80 per cent of all project workers had moved onto employment that supports sustainable development in some way, often in areas introduced to them through the project work. According to Jamie Agombar, one such project worker who completed a waste minimisation project with Corby District Council, "'Corby waste not' was the UK's largest holistic waste-minimisation project, bringing together businesses, community groups, schools and the local authority."

Mr Agombar's job was to create the "Corby waste not pack" - a useable and useful write-up of the entire project, suitable for all stakeholders, within a four-month project work placement. "I had the opportunity to meet representatives from local charities and businesses that had really benefited from cross-community waste minimisation schemes. From a personal point of view, the project gave me valuable experience and contacts in sustainability issues, something that I did not have as an ecology graduate."

If you think that StudentForce may be able to help you and would like to gain experience or a placement similar to those mentioned above, register with the charity by sending in your CV by e-mail to: sfs@studentforce.org.uk or by post (with a SAE) to: StudentForce for Sustainability, Brewery House, Ketton, Stamford, PE9 3TA. To view projects that the charity is currently recruiting for, visit the website: www.studentforce.org.uk under "future projects".