Healthy future in store for eco shop
A community interest company (CIC) in Highland Perthshire has gathered the funds it needed to open an eco-friendly store in Pitlochry.
For some time now Kaja Ekiert, founder of Handam Refill Station CIC, has had a permanent and prominent location for her ‘zero waste’ store in Aberfeldy town square, which previously operated as a pop-up shop and market stall before that.
Now, after a successful crowdfunding appeal during December, Kaja has raised £6326 by public donation, enough to open a second Refill Station paired with the ‘Eco Hub,’ located on Burnside Road in Pitlochry.
The money was needed for upfront investment - to cover the premises rent, to furnish the interior and purchase all the equipment from shelves and flooring to weighing scales and many glass jars, all needed to get it started.
The crowdfunder planned to put £1500 towards creating a small kitchen area required by food and hygiene standards, buy initial stock worth £3000 and equipment like weighing scales, epos system, and small items such as jars, scoops, spoons and paper bags, coming to £950.
The new opening is a “long dreamed of” project planned together with the local Climate Cafe.
It will be home to more than just plastic-free food sales, with upcycling workshops, eco presentations and many more uses for the community.
It will also be the new home of the NeighbourFood Market in Pitlochry.
“Our mission is to reduce waste on a local level to help our planet on a global level, contributing to this change via a platform of learning and development,” said Kaja.
“Simply put, the new Pitlochrybased Eco Hub will be a place where you will collectively be able to find all the information that you need on how to refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and repurpose whilst also being able to do your plastic-free grocery shopping in the same location.”
She explained it had been an “all or nothing” crowdfunding campaign, meaning that if Handam did not reach the target of £5450 within the time limit of three weeks, the cause would not get any funding.
A last minute push got the funds together by December 22.
“We are very happy that we managed to hit our target during the December crowdfunding campaign to open a Refill Station and Eco Hub in Pitlochry,” Kaja told her supporters on social media.
“It wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the support of our amazing customers and other small local businesses, as well as GrowBiz and our local radio station Heartland FM.
“We are grateful to have such an amazing community around us and we hope to welcome all of you in our Eco Hub soon.
“It’s been two years since Climate Cafe Pitlochry and District and Handam Refill Station CIC were formed, and what an amazing and exciting two years they have been.
“Back in 2018 when the first Climate Cafe Pitlochry meeting took place, we all started developing the idea of an eco hub/one-stop shop/ environmental centre.
“We wanted to create a space for our community to make it easier to find information designed for our area on subjects like climate change, recycling, upcycling, reducing waste and many more.
“We sponsored recycling and food waste bins for Pitlochry New Year Street Party in January 2020 and we were part of the Big Climate Conversation and held many presentations and meetings.
“For the past year we were reinvesting all our profits to grow our loose food selection in our refill station and saving up pennies to make the dream of the Eco Hub come true.”
Currently the Refill Station in
Aberfeldy is back to regular MondaySaturday opening hours after a wee break.
Customers can bring their own containers to fill up with dry foods like pasta, rice, cereals, herbs, spices, beans, lentils, pulses, grains, sweets, nuts, seeds, plus several types of cleaning products.
The Aberfeldy shop has a fresh delivery of organic vegetables every Tuesday and delivery is also available.
The products stocked by Handam Aberfeldy are also available through Neighbourfood Pitlochry (www. neighbourfood.co.uk/pitlochry)
More information and news is to be found on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ Handamrefillstation