Working with communities
Increasing food waste recycling in Inverness
Recycling food waste has a significant impact in reducing climate change as, when sent to landfill, food produces methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas.
Velocity Café & Bicycle Workshop is working with The Highland Council to encourage the uptake of household food waste recycling in Inverness. Currently, around 60% of the food wasted in Inverness still goes to landfill, rather than getting recycled with the council's food waste recycling programme.
Velocity worked with the Highland Council on a door knocking campaign in October 2022 to encourage households to use their caddies or to get signed up to the service.
In August 2023, Velocity targeted the Crown Hill area in Inverness in order to get a deeper understanding of the barriers that are currently preventing people from recycling their food waste, with a view to increasing uptake. The intervention saw an increase in the number of food waste caddies presented kerbside for collection.
Project lead
All households in Inverness City, Culloden, Smithton, Balloch and Milton of Leys are eligible for FREE food waste recycling.
Food waste challenge for households
We have developed a campaign to help households buy, store and use food more wisely, helping them to save money, cut waste and reduce their carbon footprint too.
The Zero Food Waste Challenge comprises six modules, each reflecting a step in the food waste journey. As you move through these, you will have the opportunity to measure and monitor the amount of food that you waste, in order to make real improvements at each step.
You can work through the Challenge on your own, using the online resource, or through workshops in your community, where available. Find more information about both options through the link below.
You can also find food waste reduction workshops on our events map, through the link below.
Project leads
Save money and cut waste with this handy new resource.
Developed in consultation with local communities, this resource helps households reduce food and packaging waste by working through each step of the food waste journey.
If you would like to find a food waste reduction workshop near you, please visit our events map.
Promoting community composting
Although learning to avoid wasting food in the first place is best (check out our food waste reduction workshops), composting any food or kitchen scraps that are going to waste is an important part of reducing emissions, as well as generating a useful resource: compost!
We're looking at ways to make composting more accessible in the Highlands, whether by providing people with the knowledge and tools to do it at home or by setting up community composting initiatives.
Lochaber Environmental Group (LEG) and Highland Good Food Partnership (HGFP) are working with Kilmallie Community Fridge and Garden in Fort William to run a pilot community composting project to understand the feasibility of household community composting in the Highlands in areas where the Highland Council does not provide a kerbside food waste service.
The project aims to raise awareness around reducing household food waste and provide an opportunity to sustainably manage unavoidable food waste. Participants are encouraged to get involved in the local community garden and events, and will receive finished compost to use in their own gardens.
The project was officially launched on 26 April with 7 members now dropping off their household fruit and vegetable scraps to the community garden. It is hoped that more members will join as the project develops. Participants were given their own 3.5L home food waste caddy along with a composting guide and instructions on how to access the bins. Members were asked to record the weight of their bins and the temperature of the hot bin. In a couple of weeks, participants had already managed to divert over 25kg of food waste from going to landfill, which is amazing!
The project will use a combination of a 200 litre hot bin composter, purchased by LEG, and a standard wooden cold composting bin made by The Workshop Studios at Lochaber HOPE.
This project may be used as a case study for future communities looking to start something similar, by creating a user guide that helps people through SEPA/APHA regulations, promotion, member guidelines and so on.
For more information, please contact Brenna Anderson : brenna@highlandgoodfood.scot
Project leads
If you would like to find a composting workshop near you, please visit our events map.
In addition to composting workshops and guides, Lochaber Environmental Group are providing free composters across Lochaber.
Composting food waste at home
Read how the LEG composting workshops helped Sarah on her composting journey.
Kilmallie's Community Composting Pilot Project: Learnings for Highland Allotment Groups.
Read how the pilot transforms food scraps into compost which is used in the community growing space, creating a closed-loop system that benefits the community and the environment.
Resources and downloads
The Spirit of the Soil by John Wombell: A Short History of Soil Fertility and Composting in Lochaber
Through the HCWP and funding from The National Lottery, Lochaber Environmental Group (LEG) have reissued the Spirit of the Soil in March 2023. The book, first commissioned by LEG in 2003, provides insights on food growing, composting and soil health within the unique environment of the Scottish Highlands.
It can be purchased directly from LEG or from a growing selection of stockists:
- Glenuig Community Shop, Glenuig, PH33 4NB
- Lairg & District Learning Centre, Schoolhouse, Lairg, IV27 4DD
- Land, Sea and Islands Centre, Arisaig, PH39 4NJ
- Lochaber Environmental Group, An Drochaid, Claggan, Fort William PH33 6PH
- Moidart History House, Glenuig, PH33 4NB
- Oakwood Tourism and Crafts, Oakwood Centre, Strontian, PH36 4HZ
- The Highland Bookshop, 60 High Street, Fort William, PH33 6AH
- The New Broom, 28 Argyle Street, Ullapool, IV26 2UB
- The Wildcat Cafe, 21 High Street, Fort William, PH33 6DH
- West Ardnamurchan Community Garden, Sonachan, Kilchoan, PH36 4NL
- West Coast Crafts & Gift Shop, Pier Road, Kilchoan, Acharachle, PH36 4LJ
To order a copy from LEG, or if you're interested in stocking the book, please contact: lesley@lochaberenviro.org.uk
Composting guide
Lochaber Environmental Group, Transition Black Isle and MOO Foods joined forces to create this composting guide.
Apple Zine
Skye & Lochhalsh Apples - A how to guide all about apples made by locals for locals. This resource is a guide to growing your own apples and includes some tasty apple recipes. Growing your own food is a great way to reduce the environmental impacts of food production.
Highland Community Composting Resource
This resource has been created for communities in the Highlands that are interested in starting or further developing community composting projects.
You will find a step-by-step Decision-Making Guide to help you get going or to develop your project, as well as links to help, information on legal requirements, and much more.
Highland Food Activity Map
Highland Good Food Partnership in collaboration with Highland Third Sector Interface has produced a map to show food activity and community food provisions across Highland.
The purpose of the Highland Food Activity Map is to help people find where they can buy and access food across the region. The map includes: food banks, local food producers, community fridges and larders, markets, community cafes, bakeries, farm shops and food hubs and meal services.
