Coming together: Highland Community Waste Partnership kicks off

The members of the Highland Community Waste Partnership (HCWP) came together in Inverness yesterday, for their first in-person meeting, marking an important milestone in the development of the programme.

Funded by The National Lottery and coordinated by Keep Scotland Beautiful, the HCWP brings eight community partners from across the Highlands together, to scale up action on waste prevention and reduction in the region over the next three years. Each partner brings their own experience and expertise to the table, with main areas of focus including food waste, packaging/single-use items and promoting share & repair, as well as raising awareness of how the way that we consume -make, use and discard goods- contributes to the climate crisis.

Since the official start date of 1 April, a total of eight new staff members have come on board across the partnership to help drive work forward. As partners develop their individual and collaborative workplans, this meeting was an opportunity to meet in person, exchange ideas and inspiration and have open discussions about our ambitions and how to best take them forward.

The afternoon session was further joined by representatives from Zero Waste Scotland and the Highland Council waste and climate change teams, to discuss how to best align our respective roles and collaborate in the transition towards a more circular economy and a Net Zero future.

Partnership Coordinator, Georgina Massouraki, said: "It was a delight to meet everyone in person and see the conversations ignite and flourish.

"This is a great team of knowledgeable and passionate individuals, with a variety of backgrounds and experience but all united in their commitment to their local communities and to the planet.

"We are all excited to connect and learn from each other and see what we can achieve when we join forces".

Over the comings months, the Highland Community Waste Partnership will be working to develop a joint programme of activity, including engagement events like film nights and climate cafes, learning opportunities like upcycling and composting workshops and a coordinated communications trategy to help raise awareness across the region. In addition, a number of projects are in motion such as exploring options for reusable container use, ppe reduction, community recycling/composting and food waste reduction for businessses, with a view to piloting, learning and scaling up what works.

A website for the programme is coming soon.