After a busy few weeks, & as we enter the winter months, we thought it would be a great opportunity to reflect on what we've been up to over the last month, September 2022. Students arrived back to town early September, and we can definitely feel the pace of the town picking back up! Our refill shop has been a lot busier and our Reuse project in full swing, alongside the increase in demand for energy advice, with the continuation of the energy crisis. Continue reading to hear about all the things we've been up to this month!
Reuse
The Clean and Green team have been insanely busy this past month with pack ups, donations, and van runs seeming never ending. In September alone the team did 5 urgent pack ups & 3 non-urgent pack ups, all sourced from our donation provided from the community! During The Open, they were also involved in collecting and dispersing extra supplies so that they didn’t go to waste, and this was also something which continued in September. From The Open alone, Dave and the boys collected approximately £15,000 worth of wood, 3 gazebos, rolls of carpet, flags and beanbags, which were given to different organisations in the community such St Andrews Men's Shed, North East Fife Community Hub, St Andrews Botanic Gardens and more! Donovan even went home with an Open branded beanbag - you can't say we don’t treat our staff! We have already started the same process with the Dunhill, so we will have new stats for that next month.
Refill
Since the opening of our refill shop on the 5th of September, we have had lots of folk coming in for a nosey and to buy some of our stock. We are currently housing pasta, grains, flour, cleaning and dental supplies, gluten free products and many more different refill products! We are also open for suggestion, so if there’s anything you'd love to see on our shelves, do let us know!
Exhibition
For the months of September and October we are hosting a Sustainable Fashion exhibition, where we are focusing on the problems with the fashion industry and what we can do in our own lives to be a little more sustainable. We have a mannequin display with labels on the different clothing items, to highlight the issues with them and we are working closely with the University’s Sustainable Style committee to do some collaborations, so stay tuned for those! We have been updating our blog and social media regularly, so follow our Facebook, Instagram and tiktok pages to keep up with our work at the Eco Hub!
Projects
September was the last month of 2022 that the Beach Wheelchairs were running. We had fewer people than prior months but that was fair enough, as it was pretty freezing down at the beach! None the less, we have had some really positive feedback this season, and we are so grateful to our volunteers, donors, and clients who have kept the project running!
Our Community Garden is continuing to be harvested, with carrots, beetroot and runner beans flying into the North East Fife Community Hub! With the change in weather, it has been a lot rainier than in summer and, while our plants are thrilled, it can be a little chilly! That won’t stop us at StAndEn continuing to work on it, however, we might just invest in some wooly hats!
As you can see, September has been a really busy month for us and we are really thrilled to be continuing on this busy streak as we go into the colder months! If you would like to volunteer with us, see more information on our website and we are always down at the Eco Hub (within opening hours) if you fancy a visit! See you soon!