Recycle Week 2023: The GRAB Trust

Lorn and Oban Reuse Initiative

The GRAB Trust runs several projects, the longest standing of which is the Lorn and Oban Reuse Initiative (LORI). This furniture reuse project is based at the Oban recycling centre and diverts more than 70 tonnes of unwanted household items per year from landfill to support Oban's circular economy. LORI is REVOLVE Certified (REVOLVE is Scotland's national reuse quality standard).

Visitors can donate unwanted but still useable furniture and electrical items. Electricals are PAT tested before being made available for customers who can buy pre-loved furniture and electricals at a good price. The LORI project supports homeless and community referrals with furniture packs. LORI also provides volunteer job and training opportunities for the long-term unemployed and community service offenders. Income from sales is used to fund other charitable activities.

Visit LORI's Facebook page to see what's available in its shop

Beaches and Marine Litter Project

The Beaches and Marine Litter Project (BMLP) team provides education to schools and community groups and facilitates litter picks. The Project offers free, fun and educational workshops to schools, nurseries or community groups. These range from learning the life cycle of a plastic bottle and investigating microplastics with digital microscopes, to role-playing as leaders of a nation and battling it out for a Global Climate Agreement, testing pledges in one of the best climate modelling programmes.

If you know an area that suffers from litter and want to do a beach clean or litter pick, the GRAB Trust can help. It has litter pick equipment that you can loan to do your clean-up. In 2021, the Trust engaged over 1,000 community volunteers, removing over 2.3 tonnes of waste from over 72 kilometres of shoreline.

Equipment can be borrowed from litter pick stations (set up as part of its 2021 Staycation project) or packs of 10 pickers can be collected at key LIVE Argyll locations.

Find your nearest loan location.

For larger groups, you should email the GRAB Trust well in advance to book equipment and you can request one of the BMLP Education officers to join your event and run it as a workshop. This is ideal for community groups and schools to turn a litter pick into a citizen science event by doing a litter survey that helps tackle litter nationally, while you clean-up locally.

If you know a group which would enjoy a free workshop or want to borrow litter pick equipment, you can get in touch by emailing info@grab.org.uk. You can also find the BMLP on Facebook and Instagram.

The BMLP team was busy with a range of other projects started while they could not visit schools during COVID lockdowns. These included participating in the Darwin200 UK voyages 2020 and 2021. Education Officer, Kerry, shared lessons from a tall ship circumnavigating the UK doing an ocean health-check, including beach cleans, SCUBA diving surveys, and cetacean recording.

Find videos and free downloadable lesson packs on the GRAB Trust's YouTube channel

Be Part of the Cycle project

The Be Part of the Cycle project provided every school in Argyll and Bute with a pack for teachers providing all the resources they need to teach pupils about periods and menstruation, including reusable product options. The education resource box includes curriculum linked lesson plans, fun quizzes, and demo reusable products.

There are on average eight single-use period related litter items found for every 100 metres of Argyll and Bute beach surveyed. Reusable products not only prevent this waste but are also around 90% cheaper over a lifetime, and healthier for those who use them.

Oban Reusable Cup Trial

The Oban Reusable Cup Trial ran in 2022. Keep Britain Tidy data shows that almost 75% of litter is the result of drinks consumption. Specifically in Argyll and Bute, Marine Conservation Society Beachwatch data shows that litter related to eating/drinking on the go accounts for 65,500 pieces of litter. The GRAB Trust partnered with two academic professors and Ecoffee Cup to encourage Oban residents to use reusable cups instead of single-use cups, and investigate the barriers to widespread behaviour change.

A comparative trial ran in Helensburgh in summer 2023 and results are being published in an academic research journal, as well as presented at the Academy of Marketing Conference 2023. At the Rubbish Summit held recently in Oban, the Oban Reusable Cup Trial partnered with Zero Waste Scotland and Keep Scotland Beautiful and is now working on a larger analysis of all the cup trials from across Scotland. The findings from this should create a strong evidence-based guide for businesses and policy makers on how waste from the drink-to-go culture can realistically be reduced. For now, please remember to take and use your reusable cup!

ReMake Argyll

The GRAB Trust's newest project, ReMake Argyll, is all about intergenerational skills sharing to reduce waste. Providing a range of educational workshops across Argyll and Bute to help people learn how to fix, mend and upcycle.

For example, its popular Repair Cafes encourage people to bring a broken item they would like help to fix. Knowledgeable experts and tinkerers are encouraged to come along and help identify what's wrong with items and try to fix them or signpost to professionals who can help. Frequent skills available to learn include electricals, sewing and upholstery. Repair guides are also available at the events so people can try to repair their own items. This all takes place in a fun and supportive setting with tea and cake provided, and it's free! The Sewing Machine Driving Licence workshops have consistently been fully booked too.

Find out about upcoming ReMake Argyll events on Facebook

ReMake Argyll is also looking into developing Sharing Libraries. The idea is to have a range of tools and other useful things available in communities that can be borrowed when needed. This means you don't need to buy or have storage space for items you use only occasionally. If this sounds interesting and would be useful to you, get in touch to let the Trust know what you'd like in a Sharing Library near you, by emailing remake@grab.org.uk.

More information

You can find out more by visiting the GRAB Trust's website and enjoy easy activities and inspiration on its YouTube channel. You can also contact the GRAB Trust by emailing info@grab.org.uk.