Signing off as CEO

Signing off as CEO

By Alex Robinson, 16th April 2026

Nine years ago, I interviewed for an up-and-coming environmental nonprofit called Hubbub. They needed someone to figure out how to sell their brilliant invention: the Ballot Bin. Believing my claim that a decade working in the music industry would be directly transferable experience, they took a punt on me. I could never have predicted the ride we’d go on and it’s amazing to say that today, that same plucky start-up inspires someone to take an environmental action every nine seconds. 

And now, after four years as CEO, it’s time for me to hand back the keys.

Leading Hubbub has been a huge privilege and I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved together. We’ve shown that when you make environmental action positive, practical and rewarding, people are much more likely to take part. Hubbub’s the antidote to climate despair: serious about impact, but equally serious about putting a smile on people’s faces and a spring in their step. 

Ultimately, we’re here to create a new sense of possibility: giving people both the confidence to be bolder and the tools to make a difference.

So, before I sign off, here are some highlights from my time here, plus three things I’m excited about for the future.

Making plant milk saucy

This one brought together lots of my interests: the shift to healthy, sustainable diets; effective behaviour change; great design, and a dose of disruption. Our Find Your Oooh… campaign brought plenty of surreal moments, from the eyebrow-raising film shoot to a Peter Crouch podcast. And it worked: 88% of people who saw the campaign said they were trying to eat more sustainably as a result.

Scaling the Community Fridge Network

It’s hard to pick a single moment: this has been an incredible journey. When I first got involved in 2020 we had about 80 community groups sharing surplus food. Today it’s over 800, sharing more than a tonne of food an hour (that’s 25 million meals’ worth in a year). When people think of Hubbub, they often think of our creativity. But I love the fact that we’ve also built the muscles to take our best ideas to scale. And the stories that come from the network are motivational gold.

The bin that launched a thousand memes

My Hubbub career started with figuring out how to sell a voting ashtray. So, there’s a lovely symmetry in seeing the team take that idea and supersize it. Enter, the Big Ballot Bin! When we tested the prototype it went viral, reaching 10 million people with absolutely zero marketing spend. It’s proof the best ideas don’t need a huge budget. Now, after a whole lot of prototypes, we’ve perfected the design - and it’s a real beauty. Made in the UK and already sparking debate from St James’ Park to Co-op Live, I'm so proud to see this one out in the wild.  

Nature Lates

I can’t take any credit for this one: I just turned up to Culpepper Community Garden one evening last year and got handed a clipboard. I stood at the gate as people poured in to make art, design t-shirts, meet people and create new connections with nature in the middle of the city. Most had never been to a community garden before. It was a reminder of the value of the work we do, and the brilliance of the team, and how lucky I’ve been to be part of it.  

Three for the future:

Tackling e-waste, city by city

Our partnership with Virgin Media O2 to tackle electronic waste digital exclusion has led to some of our best and most impactful work. Now, we’re collaborating to bring all we know about e-waste to a city-wide level. It’s going to bring together everything we love doing: developing meaningful partnerships, spotlighting hidden issues, changing behaviour at scale, creating replicable solutions. Bring it on.

The future of retrofit

While most of the conversation about low-carbon homes is about big switches like heat pumps and EVs, there’s so much to do to create appetite for the changes, and confidence in the benefits they’ll bring. We’ve got a new campaign coming aimed at building demand in a London borough – watch this space. 

Young men & meat

On a personal level, this is the work I’m saddest about leaving behind. Our High Steaks report made waves by linking new research about young men’s diets to the rise of the manosphere. And now we’re about to put insight into action in the West Midlands, working with football clubs and employers to see how we can drive behaviour change among one of the trickiest cohorts around.

I won’t be here to deliver this work, but I’ll be cheering from the sidelines. And I’m fortunate to be able to hand over to a very familiar leadership team. Hubbub’s new interim co-CEOs have been with the charity since the start: co-founders Heather Poore and Gavin Ellis. Heather’s our Creative Director and Gavin leads much of our project delivery, new partnerships and more besides. They’re the perfect team to oversee Hubbub’s next phase. As for me, I’m joining a larger organisation in a similar area to continue this work. Keep an eye on my LinkedIn for news of that soon.

One of the things that makes Hubbub so special is the phenomenal range of collaborators and supporters. There are so many people I feel grateful to from my time here: thank you to all of you. There’s much more to come.