Opportunities From: Spokane County Regional Waste Ambassadors

Thanks for your interest in volunteering at Art Salvage, attending an orientation is the first step in the volunteer process.

At the orientation we will give you a tour of our space, share the mission of our organization, and answer any questions you might have.

Interested volunteers that are under 18 years of age need to be accompanied by a caregiver for the initial orientation and for all volunteer shifts.

Join Spokane Zero Waste as we put together our 2nd annual Earth Day Block Party, a collaborative community celebration hosted in partnership by River City Youth in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood April 25 from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

The following volunteer opportunities are available:

Artists: learn about our public art project Urban Shade and help facilitate its creation. If you have experience creating durable structures, working with unconventional and upcycled materials, love engaging with youth and the public then this opportunity is for you. Stipends may be available

General event assistance: attend planning meetings, take notes, follow up with action items, make phone calls, send emails., in general help get things done!

Help with setup up on Saturday, 4/25 9am-11am

Help with break down on Saturday 4/25 2:30-4:00pm

Help manage the waste sorting station: Oversee River City Youth volunteers as they assist attendees in getting their waste to the right place; garbage, recycling or compost.

The Earth Day Block Party is a free festival featuring free food, live music, a native plant giveaway, a bicycle rodeo and bike give-away for youth; SZW's Mend-It Cafe will be there repairing clothing, and we’ll be hosting the first workshop for our public art project, Urban Shade where participants will be invited to create butterflies from reclaimed fabric that will become part of a shade structure in an area identified as a heat island in Spokane.

Email: Volunteerszw@spokanezerowaste.org

We need volunteers to help us with our compost fair at the upcoming Arbor Day Festival at Finch. You do not need to be an expert on composting to participate! 

Volunteers will host various stations as part of the fair including:

This event is not possible without our amazing volunteers!

Located in rural Lincoln County, this state-of-the-art, 40-acre facility showcases an all-natural, chemical-free approach to organic resource recovery.

During the tour, visitors will learn how locally recovered organic materials are transformed into high-quality compost products that support healthy soils and ecosystems across Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Founded in 2009 on a vision to reduce waste and restore ecological value, the facility highlights how innovative, environmentally friendly technology can turn discarded resources into lasting community benefits.

We will meet at the Waste to Energy Facility at 4:00pm and carpool to Barr-Tech. 

Join the Spokane County Regional Waste Ambassador Program!

Are you passionate about waste reduction and creating a sustainable future? The Spokane County Waste Ambassador program empowers community members to make a difference through improved practices, ongoing education, innovation, and volunteerism.

Next Orientation: Friday, May 22nd 10am-11:30pm. Shadle Library 2111 W. Wellesley Ave.

This program takes a broad approach to waste reduction, delving into topics like food waste, composting, litter, textile waste, and the climate impacts of materials management. You'll also gain insight into our local waste systems and how to drive meaningful change. How to Get Started: Register for a one-time orientation and begin your journey to improving the health and well-being of people and the planet. Be a part of the solution—join us in making our community a cleaner, greener place to live!

Thanks for your interest in volunteering at Art Salvage, attending an orientation is the first step in the volunteer process.

At the orientation we will give you a tour of our space, share the mission of our organization, and answer any questions you might have.

Interested volunteers that are under 18 years of age need to be accompanied by a caregiver for the initial orientation and for all volunteer shifts.

Learn the Basics of Worm Composting and Build Your Own Indoor Bin!

Join our hands-on workshop to discover nature’s best decomposers—worms! You'll learn the fundamentals of worm composting, including how to set up and maintain a bin, care for your worms, and harvest nutrient-rich castings.

All materials are provided. This workshop is open to Spokane County residents.

Join us for an enlightening and practical session with Spokane Country Regional Waste Ambassadors, as we delve into the art and science of composting. Discover how the aerobic decomposition of organic materials by micro and macro-organisms can transform your kitchen scraps and yard waste into rich, crumbly, and earthy-smelling compost.

By the end of this session, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to start your own composting journey, turning everyday waste into a valuable soil amendment. Embrace a sustainable lifestyle, connect with nature, and join a community of eco-conscious individuals dedicated to making a positive environmental impact.

Date: Saturday, June 13 - 10:00-11:30am
Location: Shadle Library 2111 W. Wellesley

Ever wonder what happens to all that water during a heavy rainstorm? On this guided tour of the CSO 26 facility, you’ll go behind the scenes of a massive underground tank designed to prevent sewer backups during big storms. Built in 2021, this 2.2-million-gallon tank fills when rainfall overwhelms the sewer system and safely stores excess water until it can be treated. You’ll learn how the system works, explore the scale of the engineering (imagine 31,000 bathtubs of water!), and discover how the facility is maintained. The tour also includes the plaza above the tank, featuring waterfalls, walking paths, and elements honoring local Native cultures.

Spokane County Regional Waste Ambassadors and Art Salvage are teaming up for the second annual School-Cycle Supply Drive. The 2026 event will take place at City and County library branches during the months of June and July. We need volunteers who are willing to adopt a library branch to monitor and collect donations from mid-June through the end of July. Materials will need to be delivered to the Waste to Energy Administration Bldg. before our packaging and distribution event in mid-August. Please indicate the library branch you are interested in monitoring in the notes section when signing up. 

Library branches that need monitors are as follows:

Spokane Public Libraries

Spokane County Library District

We are collecting reusable supplies through the School-Cycle Supplies Drive and will be distributing them to local agencies and individuals in need. Help us give this material a refresh. If sorting crayons, colored pencils, markers and the like sounds like your kind of Wednesday - we need your help!

We'll be meeting in the Waste to Energy Facility Admin building classroom on Wednesday August 5th from 10am-1pm.

Join the Waste Ambassadors for an exclusive tour of Spokane's recycling center, owned and operated by WM. The newly renovated SMaRT Center's advanced technology upgrades are expected to increase recycling capacity by 37%. The result is less waste going to landfills and more recyclables that can be used for new products.

Please wear sturdy, closed-toe shoes. PPE such as a hard hat, safety glasses and safety vest will be provided onsite.

This tour has limited capacity. All attendees must register individually.

Our next training will be held in May 2026, please see the schedule below. Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to become a volunteer!

Are you looking to build your resume, network with like minded individuals, and provide meaningful services to folks in need? Then this may be the perfect opportunity for you!

This unique volunteer experience provides valuable tools for navigating crisis and conflict by empowering and supporting survivors in the aftermath of abuse and trauma. Our volunteers often refer to their service with us as life changing. We are a small team of individuals from diverse backgrounds who embrace our mission of health, justice, and hope.

The Sexual Assault and Family Trauma Center, a program of Lutheran Community Services Northwest, hosts Spokane's only Certified and Accredited Community Sexual Assault Program (CSAP). Our program provides the following services confidentially and free of charge:

Our volunteer advocates assist survivors via a 24-hour support line that can be directed to volunteers at home (no need to sit in a call center) and medical advocacy, which is provided to victims in person at area hospitals when requested.

As a non-profit, we rely on our volunteers to provide services to survivors outside of business hours. We provide a comprehensive 40-hour training and certification free of charge, as well as ongoing supervision and 24-hour support for all our volunteers. We invest in our volunteer staff and in turn, we ask for a one-year commitment of service and four evening or weekend shifts per month. Applicants are thoroughly screened and vetted for service.

Core training is a 40-hour total class teaching a foundational understanding of sexual violence and basic skills for new sexual assault service providers. Core training is a certification that is required by the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy to work as a victims' advocate in Washington state. Our next training will be held in May, please see the below schedule. 

For more information, please contact our Volunteer Supervisor at (509) 343-5011 or email crisisresponseteam@lcsnw.org

LCSNW Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program receives refugee youth ages 14-17 and places them into foster homes and group homes in the Spokane area. These youth have fled their countries due to war, conflict, and violence in search of safety and a better life. They do not have family to care for them, so our organization works to find them loving homes and reach their goals for success.

Are you willing to open your heart and home to a foster child? We’ll be honest, being a foster parent can be challenging. At the same time, we hear from many foster parents that they have grown from the experience.

In our LCS Northwest foster programs, we recruit, license and support foster parents. We are here to help foster parents so they aren’t in this alone. Our goal is to help you provide a stable home for youth who cannot live with their families. We recruit parents for two different programs – International Foster Care and Domestic Foster Care.

Foster parents and program staff work together to provide a safe haven to refugee and immigrant children from around the world. Refugee youth will be supported in their work to heal from past trauma while they pursue goals of learning English, getting an education, and preparing for a future of independence. Foster families are asked to make a long-term commitment to care for refugee child placed in their home.

Informational meetings for the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program are held on the second Tuesday of every month from 5:30-7:30pm at 210 W. Sprague, Spokane WA 99201.  Please contact us to RSVP.

The role of a Refugee Foster Parent is to:

Most foster parents report a positive experience with refugee children. Many say they receive more from their foster children than what they gave.

Foster families receive:

International foster youth receive:

Learn about soil science and become certified as a soil science consultant by one of the leading soil science institutes. We will manage your tuition, most of the class in online, volunteer and teaching time is expected by agreement. Please contact Kathryn for more nformation.

Learn how to manage land to hold water it gets through rain. These projects can be small and permaculture oriented, or large with a city or regional focus. Certification comes through one of the premier world-wide land hydrology organizations. Contact Kathryn for more information.

Volunteer Role: Sewing Menders of all kinds

Come mend with us! We have menders at every level. There are menders that hand stitch only, hobbyists that prefer to do hems and patches, educators that like to engage with the client while mending, and professionals that do it all. Whatever your skill level we have mends for you.

Learn more here: https://www.spokanezerowaste.org/mend-it-cafe

Mend-It Cafes take place in various locations throughout Spokane and require a time commitment of a few hours.

Fill out this short survey to become a Mend-It Cafe mender; we are eager for you to join the team for this popular and growing community offering!

Interested in sharing your time, ideas, passion, and expertise to serve the Spokane community? Consider joining the Spokane Zero Waste Board of Directors, a group of volunteers committed to fulfilling the organization's mission.

We are looking specifically for folks with skills in the following areas: fundraising and leadership

We are a group of creative, passionate people who believe there are low-waste or waste free solutions for almost every aspect of daily life. We work to build a more resilient community through education, modeling, and advocating for low waste policies.

Meet the current Board: https://www.spokanezerowaste.org/aboutus

Ready to learn more? Please submit your interest here - https://forms.gle/JeFQiujVp2L5nYqM8

Join Our Volunteer Team Feed Spokane is a food rescue agency that helps save food and then works together with many organizations that get food to people – our neighbors, children, families, and seniors who do not have enough to eat. We’re looking for helpers like you! You can drive our vans, help load and unload food, sort it, and give it to others who need it. If you want to be a part of this amazing team, sign up now, and our friendly Volunteer Coordinator will get in touch with you soon. Join us in the fight against hunger!

Apply to volunteer by visiting our website or completing the volunteer application here: Become A Volunteer – Feed Spokane

Re:CraftLAB is a Spokane Zero Waste program that upcycles a range of flexible materials and textiles into durable goods with a purpose. We divert materials like vinyl banners, promotional scrim, clothing and bicycle inner tubes from the waste stream and transform them into items that support a circular economy. Additionally we train immigrant and refugee women in the production of our products and contract them to fulfill orders. 
Our products help  non-profits, retailers and agencies showcase their commitment to reuse and sustainability.   
If you can use a pair of scissors, you can help Re:CraftLAB.


We need some extra hands to cut materials. Your help preparing materials enables us to put our sewists to work,  produce upcycled products at a competitive price and keep waste out of the incinerator or landfill.  We can’t do this without you! 

Do you love to write? Want to help educate our community on waste reduction and inspire change? Spokane Zero Waste seeks writers who can contribute one article per month to our newsletter. Helpful content topics would include local events, trending waste related stories associated with SZW priorities, and sourcing quarterly guest contributors such as students from High School or university environmental clubs, waste reduction innovators and up cyclers in fashion and art. If you're interested in this opportunity, please send a writing sample and a short description why waste reduction topics and initiatives are of interest. Prefer a 6-month commitment.

Help organize our Second Annual Earth Day Block Party in collaboration with River City Youth . Email info@spokanezerowaste.org, subject line Earth Day Volunteer for more information  

Event is on Sat. April 25th

Volunteers at Hope Market provide a welcoming and helpful environment for shoppers.  They keep the shelves stocked with a variety of food.  Volunteers also help shoppers make selections from what is available in the cooler, freezer, and from the shelves of canned and dry goods in the food pantry.

Volunteers under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

School Food Waste Reduction & Composting Pilot Program with Growing Neighbors

This program engages students, school staff, and community members in learning about the food cycle and reducing food waste. Through education and hands-on projects, participants will focus on waste reduction, collecting food scraps for redistribution or composting, and using finished compost to enrich soil in school and community gardens. The program also supports growing, preparing, and sharing fresh, nutritious food at schools.

The pilot will launch at Garfield Elementary School and includes:

The long-term goal is to expand the program to additional schools.

To receive training or get involved, email: growingneighbors509@gmail.com