Category

• Emerging Local Practice

---

Poverty impact

• Mitigation

---

Poverty driver

• Provide benefit in-kind (material)

---

Keywords

• Environment
• Zero-Waste
• Community
• Cafés
• Island

Aim

The aim of the project is to promote sustainable food on the island by offering mobile pop-up cafés in remote locations which provide services to outlying village communities, reducing the need to travel and making local and seasonal food available to residents. The cafés work with island producers to distribute locally grown vegetables. It takes bulk dried goods to allow package-free shopping and offers a healthy soup and refreshments. The cafés aim to promote sustainable dietary habits, and support the Arran community by being inclusive and open to all. The model works on a guided donation basis.

Summary

A Scottish charitable incorporated organisation (SCIO), Arran Eco Savvy is based on the Isle of Arran. Their aim is to deliver environmental projects which benefit the community of Arran through working to increase sustainability in zero waste projects. This includes but is not limited to its Zero Waste Café, eBike Loans, community and online shop, Active Travel Hub, and Food Sharing projects.

What difference does it make?

The project has strengthened connections across the island, especially post-lockdown. It has also heightened awareness, decreased levels of food waste, promoted packaging-free food, and local food produce usage.

Key take-aways

• Involving the community in the development of the model from the start, which informed the café project and made the organisation realise that a decentralised mobile model would best serve the Isle of Arran’s rural community.
• It took the organisation a while to settle on the guided donation model (suggesting a donation price for the goods provided at the café i.e., 40p/tin or £1 for coffee and cake). Prior to this it had donations of much larger sums which was not intended. The guided donations have helped with this.

 

Organisations

Arran Eco Savvy, North Ayrshire Council, National Lottery, and the Co-operative Group.

Location

Isle of Arran (Throughout the Isle)

The initial idea emerged in 2021, with the pilot project running from 2022–2023 and the project being established in 2023

Contact