Circular economy - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

>Clachworks

June 2022

Successful Black Isle Climate Day - Highland Climate Festival
 

The very first Highland Climate Festival starts Saturday 25 June.

The festival is supported by Highland Adapts (external link), a partnership which brings organisations including Highland Council, NHS Highland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise together to facilitate transformational climate action, and the North Highlands & Islands Climate Hub (external link), which is part of a network funded by the Scottish Government supporting community-led climate action.

Successful Black Isle Climate Day

As part of the wider event, the Black Isle had its own Cimate Day on Saturday 25 June, featuring the initial session of the Black Isle Repair Cafe - an exciting new project which we hope will become a permanent part of Black Isle community activities.

The sun shone and those taking part and attending all seemed to enjoy the afternoon.  Black Isle Men's Shed members and Gillian's sewing ladies got the repair cafe project off to a good start.  Thanks are due to Lyn, Gillian, the members of Black Isle Men's Shed and all the volunteers who helped to make the event a success.

Events continued across the Highlands throughout the week.

More information at  Climate change / Highland Climate Festival

-------------------------

June 2022

Clachworks newsletter - opportunities presented by new premises

Clachworks' latest newsletter excitedly announces the successful leasing  of a heritage workshop building on the Caledonian Canal in Clachnaharry, which they hope to occupy by the end of the summer. 

Once we’re officially in, the real work will begin as we plan to transform the site into a safe, accessible and creative space for the community. Our vision is to create a socially inclusive space for making and remaking, with a tool library, makerspace, community garden and cafe. 

Read the newsletter

Clachworks website

-------------------------

January 2022

Clachworks - exciting new group set up in Inverness

Clachworks believes in the circular economy which aims to reuse materials rather than throwing them away.

The circular economy is a model which seeks to eliminate waste by finding ways to reuse materials indefinitely. This can be done by sharing, reusing, repairing, remaking, refurbishing, recycling items and their materials for as long as possible.

Clachworks' founder Lauren Pyott writes

My name is Lauren Pyott and I’m the founder of Clachworks: a new social enterprise working towards creating an open space for making and remaking in Inverness. in these blogs I’ll be discussing some of my motivations for starting the social enterprise and about some of the projects we have lined up. I’ll also be talking about why I think the environmental movement has to have social justice at its heart..  .   .   .

I moved back to Inverness three years ago and whilst I was delighted to live in such a beautiful part of the world again, I was also saddened to see how hard life can be here for many. Unemployment is high in Inverness and it tragically has one of the highest suicide rates in the country. Last year, I decided to set up a social enterprise Clachworks to try and tackle some of these issues from within the community.

Clachworks will be a socially inclusive space for making & remaking in Inverness. We believe that the tools, skills & resources needed to create & repair things shouldn’t cost the earth & should be accessible to all. We have plans to open a tool library, open-access workshop space, community garden & café, facilitating a transition towards the circular economy.

By sharing resources amongst the community, Clachworks aims to lower personal costs for individuals; reduce the overall consumption and waste of goods; and foster skills development and community solidarity. Ultimately, we want to create a space for people to make things, skills and friendships. This will hopefully be based in a heritage workshop that was originally used to construct the Caledonian Canal over two hundred years ago, and by doing so we seek to honour the legacy of the trades and tradespeople that once made Inverness flourish.

Clachworks received a UHI award for Best Social Impact Business in 2021.

More about Clachworks