SF&G are delighted to have partnered with sustainable coffee brand GRIND to offer three grants of £1,300 each to support composting activities in community gardens.
Grind has just launched the UK’s first home compostable coffee pod, certified to decompose in home compost in just 180 days (quicker than grass cuttings!). To celebrate this launch, Grind have partnered with SF&G to support local communities in the UK to get more in tune with their garden and home composting, in a bid to stop the 29,000 coffee pods that end up in landfill each minute.
Meet our grant winners below:
The Paradise Cooperative – London
The Paradise Cooperative are a Wandsworth based charity, with a one acre, no-dig community garden. Their site includes poly tunnels, raised beds, beehives, and a wildlife pond. The three core strands of their charity are community, education and growing.
This grant will go towards a community composting project. Their main aim is to help educate local people on how to compost, why and where it fits in on an organic no-dig garden. Some exciting plans include upgrading their current compost bays and running workshops on soil ecology, home composting and community art around the subject of soil.
Gateway Collective – Merseyside
Growing food, people and communities is central to the ethos of Gateway Collective CIC. They work to see thriving people and communities in Bootle by increasing well-being, creating social connections and providing a space for people to garden together. Last year they grew 511kg of fresh produce that was shared amongst their community. In every session they eat together, often cooking with what they grow, as this builds personal connections.
This grant will enable them to create composting bays with see-through fronts so that people can see the process of biodegrading taking place. They plan to run growing, cooking and composting workshops with the two local schools. In future, they also plan to create new compost bays for the local community, build more compost bays and incorporate composting into the system within their small café.
Raasay Walled Garden – Isle of Raasay
The walled garden in Raasay was bought out by the community and brought back into production in 2017 after years of neglect. The garden is open to both local residents and visitors to the island and their produce and flowers are sold each week from the Veg Shack outside the gates. The garden also provides people with opportunities to volunteer in a safe and friendly environment, with roles available for all levels of fitness and knowledge.
This grant will enable them to purchase two large composters that would be used to compost more food waste on the island alongside their traditional compost heaps. This will reduce the amount of waste on the island and enable them to make more compost and not have to buy it in from off the island. Additionally, they plan to host an open day demonstrating how the bins work and encouraging local businesses to compost.