Eco Savvy proposes an Eco Park and Centre for the community of Arran

Eco Savvy took a public step forward on Saturday 27th February in Brodick, presenting ideas for a sustainable Eco Park and Centre to an audience of around 40 people. Arran Eco Savvy Community SCIO was founded as a not for profit environmental group 2 years ago and appeared first in the form of the shop in Whiting Bay, where donated and upcycled goods are sold, with the aim of reducing Arran’s waste and raising funds for the wider project.

Over the 2 years, entirely self-funded with no grants or paid employees, Eco Savvy has gone from strength to strength, with over 400 members, all regularly consulted via community Forums, and many active as volunteers. There have been skill sharing days, auctions, evening events, a permaculture course and the Zero Waste Week last September which culminated in a Big Feast, concocted out of donated food that would have been thrown away, and offered for free to all who came. All events have been free to the community of Arran and in July, Eco Savvy became a charity (SCO45785).

The aims of this group have always been much bigger than the community shop. Eco Savvy’s broad charitable aim is to ‘make Arran a greener and more sustainable island’, and zero waste is just a part of this. Behind the scenes the Trustees and Working Group have been researching, visiting sites on the mainland, planning, consulting and preparing for the envisioned Eco Park and Centre.

Green waste and food waste composting naturally form a part of this vision – much needed on Arran, where currently all green waste collected by North Ayrshire Council is shipped away and sent to landfill. The Eco Savvy big project is for the green waste facility to form part of a larger – 20 acre – site powered by sustainable energy.