Construction engineer Oluwaseun Jegede has led more than 60 students in a community clean-up exercise at the Anderton Centre in Bolton, United Kingdom, in an initiative aimed at promoting environmental sustainability, collective responsibility and practical community engagement.
The exercise, organised through the Student Sustainability Committee, brought students together to remove litter and clean the surrounding environment, demonstrating how coordinated volunteer activities can translate environmental awareness into meaningful action.
Jegede said the initiative went beyond keeping the environment clean, providing an opportunity to demonstrate how leadership, effective communication and proper coordination could mobilise people around a common purpose.
According to him, organising a successful community activity requires careful planning, clear communication of responsibilities and the ability to manage participants’ expectations to ensure that the exercise achieves its objectives.
He explained that people are more likely to participate in community initiatives when they understand their purpose and recognise the value of their contributions.
“It reminded me that people are often willing to participate when they understand the purpose of an initiative and feel that their contribution matters,” Jegede said.
He added that the experience reinforced his belief that trust, inclusion, communication and a shared sense of responsibility are essential to sustaining participation in community development activities.
“For me, it was about more than having 60 people in one place. It was an opportunity to see what could happen when people come together around a shared purpose, and it reinforced my belief that people are more likely to engage when they feel valued and included,” he said.
Jegede also acknowledged the role of the Student Sustainability Committee in providing the platform for the exercise, while stressing that the initiative’s success depended on the collective involvement of the students.
“The Student Sustainability Committee provided the platform, but the litter-pick needed our collective participation,” he said.
Drawing from his professional experience in construction project management, Jegede noted that the principles required to coordinate large projects could also be applied to community-based environmental initiatives.
His professional experience includes work on a $3.5 million TotalEnergies staff clubhouse project. He said the planning, task allocation, coordination and progress-monitoring processes associated with construction projects could provide useful lessons for organising volunteer activities.
However, he observed that managing volunteers required additional flexibility because participants often have different interests, personal commitments and motivations.
“My background in construction project management taught me the importance of planning, coordination and understanding what needs to be achieved. I applied those same principles when organising volunteer activities, but I also recognised that working with people requires a different level of understanding,” he said.
He explained that effective leadership was not limited to assigning responsibilities but also involved listening to participants, understanding their motivations and ensuring they felt included throughout the process.
According to him, a well-structured plan provides direction, but the commitment of participants and their willingness to work towards a shared objective ultimately determine the success of a community initiative.
Jegede further argued that the effectiveness of volunteer activities should not be assessed solely by the number of people who attend. He said organisers should also consider whether participants feel welcomed, contribute meaningfully and gain experiences that encourage them to remain involved in future initiatives.
He identified practical results, relationships developed among participants and their willingness to support subsequent activities as important indicators of the long-term value of volunteer programmes.
On environmental sustainability, Jegede said community clean-up exercises could help individuals and groups understand that addressing environmental challenges requires practical action alongside awareness.
The initiative highlights the potential of student-led activities to connect sustainability principles with everyday community responsibilities. It also demonstrates how leadership and project-management skills can be applied beyond professional workplaces to support collective action.
As environmental sustainability continues to require participation from individuals, institutions and communities, initiatives such as the Bolton clean-up exercise offer an example of how organised volunteering can encourage shared responsibility for maintaining cleaner surroundings.
