Eco Projects News
Kids attending the Eco Kids Club at Greenside Community Centre got creative and designed a 'Bag for Life'. This project was to raise awareness of the problems plastic bags cause and why we should encourage our friends and family to use a Bag for Life. The winning design was produced by Nana Adom and will be printed on 1000 cotton reusable bags which will be given our to residents in the local community.
We are currently planning a Faith Waste project where we will be designing a newsletter and a programme of events which link the beliefs of different Faiths with positive environmental behaviour. This will consist of art recycling worshops for kids, textile recycling workshops for adults and a series of information events at places of worship.
Dragons Breathe Fire into Vital Regeneration’s Social Enterprise
Vital Regeneration successfully tamed the dragons at the Delivering 4 Community conference and secured an Adventure Capital Fund Business Development Grant, moving them closer to achieving their goal of setting up a Furniture Reuse, Recycling and Training Enterprise in North Westminster. The enterprise is based on a proven business model designed to provide low cost furniture to people in need; diverting valuable resources from landfill; and, crucially, providing training and volunteering opportunities for local people. This is a great way of reducing waste, saving precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while providing local people with necessary household items.
Jeannette Buckley, Chairperson of the Lisson Green Tenants and Residents Association in Church Street described the feeling of local residents.
“It is great news. The environment is a huge priority for the community. Residents are working hard to protect and improve their environment and have run a number of environmental projects through Vital Regeneration. We are looking forward to the challenge of setting up a social enterprise which will greatly benefit the residents on the estate.”
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Past Eco projects include:
Nature Wonder Kids Gardening Club
As many families in the area do not have a garden, this club gives the kids a place to be green-fingered and they are now involved on a weekly basis. Plant beds and a mini-allotment have been created, and children have been growing brussell sprouts, tomatoes, peppers, parsley, artichokes, broccoli and chillis. The children also designed a logo and suggested names for the club and they decided on Nature Wonder. The kids learned how to grow vegetables from seedlings, and from seed, the conditions the vegetables liked to grow in and how to look after them. The kids measured environmental variables by making weather instruments out of recycled materials. These included a rain gauge, a barometer. They also made root windows from used plastic bottles, to study plant growth beneath the soil.
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Painting Recycling Bins on Fisherton Estate
The kids on Fisherton Estate have been getting creative by designing and painting their recycling bins as part of Vital Regeneration’s Neighbourhood recycling project ‘(Get on the Greenside) Eco Projects’, with Fisherton Estate Residents Association. The colourful creations will draw attention to the recycling facilities on the estate and encourage residents to use them.
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Building Wormery
Children at The Greenside Community Centre homework club have been learning about recycling and composting and have built a wormery for the community centre. One of the barriers faced by residents in Central London is that they have no environmentally friendly way to dispose of green waste as many do not have gardens. To show them that they can compost even without a garden, the children learned to make a wormery and what types of household waste could be composted in it.
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Nappuccino
To celebrate Real Nappy Week 2007, a Nappuccino was held at The Greenside Community Centre to promote the use of Real Nappies to parents and nurseries. A representative from Nappy Ever After was on hand to show parents how easy it is to use Real Nappies and how it is environmentally and economically beneficial.