A sustainable guide to Scotland

Hello lads! I was recently visiting friends, who live in Scotland and I have to say that regardless of the bad weather, I really enjoyed this country! Mostly because of the nature and the Harry Potter vibes. If we're talking about food however, embrace yourselves for a lot of fried everything, including fried pizza (?!).

Returning to the eco side of things, I'm disappointed to say that littering is a serious problem in Scotland. I was really impressed as we were traveling and trails of trash seemed endless through the highways...

Nevertheless, scots are really doing an effort to be more sustainable and environment-friendly. And in this article, I would like to show you how.

The vibrant city of Glasgow

In a nutshell, Glasgow is a vibrant city, filled with young and innovative spirit. I loved the big drawings on the sides of the living blocks, as well as the flora and beautiful sightseeings from the Glasgow Necropolis.

Let me start with the waste management topic.

Since 2017, in Glasgow there is a food recycling service, which helps to keep organic waste out from the landfills. Food composting is actually very important, because once composted, food waste can be used as agricultural fertilizers and energy, while throwing it away in the landfill, a valuable resource is wasted and during the break down process it releases methane, which is a mass contributor to pollution. And since food composting can be difficult in smaller spaces, like apartments, food recycling service in the cities is a very beneficial step for the environment.

If you're interested in learning more about the benefits of food composting, check out this video.

There are also campaigns, encouraging citizens to pay more attention at keeping their streets cleaner.

Another cool service is a specific car sharing service, that can be found all around UK - Co-wheels car club. We used this service to get to Edinburgh and to a nice nature retreat to Loch Tay. This is a social enterprise and once a member to the club, you can hire hybrid vehicles all around UK and a car can be booked from 30 mins to several days. It's a lot cheaper than the traditional car renting, as it's not bounded with deposits, number of age or the amount of money in your account, you just only pay for what you use. In this video you can find more information on how it works.

More about transportation methods, in Glasgow people are using mostly the cozy metro and two-level buses. There were some cyclists as well, however I didn't find anywhere bicycle renting stations, which I find a bit strange. At the same time, bicycle parkings can be found regularly around the city.

Another cool place I'd like to mention is a clothing store, which has a very cute concept and the garments are 100% local. Cute because the idea was born by the drawing of the owner's little boy. More about their story here.

Inspiring Edinburgh

In a few words, Edinburgh is a touristy place but has a traditional and magical charm which gets me personally. We didn't spend as much time as in Glasgow, but I found THE eco(ol) place: a swap and reuse hub called Shrub.

This wonderful space is all about creating and strengthening the zero waste community in Scotland. The hub is a host to several environment-friendly initiatives that are aiming to turn Edinburgh into a zero waste city.

Food Sharing

Conscious about the food waste problem, backed up by scary figures of 21.7 tonnes of food waste being thrown out per week in Edinburgh alone (!), one of their missions is to reduce excess of food waste. This is achieved through collecting the surplus food from supermarkets and restaurants and selling them at a pay-as-you-feel price. This is a great occasion to save unused food materials as well as reduce food poverty around the city.

Swap shop

Another great initiative is the swap shop where one can bring garments and once valued by the volunteers there, the person receives Shrub tokens which can be used to buy other items present in the store.This is also possible with real money. Guests can also buy clothing from there referring to it as a second-hand shop. This initiative is fighting to keep out textile waste from landfills and finding new lives for unwanted garments.

24.71 carbon save through the Swap shop

Workshops

But wait, there's more! Shrub is also a space for upcycling workshops, which means transforming used materials into another item. These could be:

- Wallets out of bicycle inner tubes or tetra pacs

- Chandeliers out of bicycle wheels

- Jewellery out of bicycle inner tubes or paper

- Backyard wind turbines out of aluminium printing sheets

And many other!

However, Shrub emphasizes on bicycle workshops. They consist of giving your bike to be fixed or learning how to do it. Bike repairing skills are also taught to people without permanent residence. You can even learn how to ride a bike for free. Finally, bike donations are welcomed in order to provide them to people in need to increase their mobility.

Amazing hub, right? This is an inspiring example of turning the community of a city into a more sustainable way of living and there should be a lot more places like this one, if you ask me!

Moving on with another eco(ol) friendly thing I found interesting: the possibility to choose from plastic and paper packaged water bottles. Guess which one I chose?

And I really liked the interactive design. A lot more interesting than plastic bottles. Also, the cap is made from sugarcane! How eco(ol) is that? @JustUK

For now, thy are present in UK and Australia only, but it's a step. Their marketing campaign is strong - you can check out the video they made featuring Will Smith.

Humble Loch Tay

Finally, I would like to share with you this beautiful place that we visited. It's located next to the Loch Tay lake and it's a wonderful spot for glamping (slightly more comfortable way of camping). We stayed in a cozy lodge with green valleys around, a peaceful river and playful dogs. These places remind me how beautiful nature is and how important it is to treasure it!

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I hope this article was interesting for you! If so, don't forget to like or comment if you want to add something to this eco-guide :) If you're interested in various sustainable news, follow the Facebook page where I share regularly!