Community

Eday Partnership

Location

Eday, Orkney

Project

Exploring Sustainable Solutions for Food Waste in Island Communities

Eday, an island in the Orkney archipelago, has a small community of around 130 people. The community proposes to research and evaluate options to identify a sustainable – and possibly commercial – solution for reducing food waste in an island community.

Recognising that island communities have fewer opportunities for recycling due to the limitations of economies of scale and limited human and financial resources, this project will explore different forms of food waste composting. Alongside this, the community aim to identify how the processes might yield social and economic benefits and whether any solutions might benefit from collaboration with neighbouring isles. The hope is that the research findings will be replicable across other isles and within other remote and rural communities.

Recently, the Eday Growing Group appointed Alun Jones as the Growing Manager to oversee the implementation and management of a polycrub. He said, “The community is really focussed on the transition to net zero, and with no waste recycling on the island, this grant funding is going to be pivotal for the community, not only in terms of supporting the community growing project but also in terms of dealing with waste in an island setting. We are absolutely delighted to receive this award and cannot wait to explore options for a composting solution that is going to benefit the whole community. We aim to develop something that can be rolled out in similar community environments – all visitors to Eday are welcome to visit our growing area.”