Our Story
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council worked with Workwest Ltd. (Programme Facilitators), Queen's University, Ballymena Business Centre and Ulster Supported Employment and Learning (Knowledge Partner) to co-design and develop the CIRCUS Programme to stimulate and support the creation of three Circular Economy Social Enterprises.
Across the Mid & East Antrim Borough, nearly 70,000 tonnes of household waste are generated each year. Of this, about 35,000 tonnes are reused, recycled, or composted equating to a recycling rate of just over 50%, on a par with the Northern Ireland average. This pilot initiative sought to explore how some of the waste could be utilised for the betterment of local communities and encourage community organisations to consider sustainable funding streams going forward.
The programme was designed with innovation at the core, bringing together relevant expertise to support product and service development. This was manifested at various stages of the programme, including the use of university students, who volunteered on the programme to facilitate design and product development. The project is also developing a Social Co-operative Network to sustain and grow interest in this area.
We have seen a marked increase in participants' awareness of the importance of sustainable business practices through training sessions, mentoring sessions and the use of role models. We have measured greater social confidence, mobility and ownership of interventions within the community organisations. It is hoped that as this project progresses, increased local waste will be reused or recycled within the borough for the benefit of local communities.
Our advice
The programme was originally designed to be delivered in a group setting, face-to-face. However, the Coronavirus pandemic and resultant lockdown in March 2020 required delivery to be switched online using the Stormz platform, an online collaboration and meeting tool for workshop facilitation. The programme took time to work with the groups over a year and a half and it is this investment that has produced results building relationships, a network of support, and linking the participants with the necessary expertise and contacts.
A unique facet of the programme was the addition to each team of a volunteer student from Queen's University, Belfast using their skillset and outside perspective to support idea development and prototyping. This was really useful and provided a creative view to challenge ideas.
Three groups were engaged in the pilot programme and have advanced to producing prototypes for sale to the marketplace. These include upcycling waste materials into planters and decorative items, picnic seating and rocking chairs, re-using glass jars for new food products, and creating drinks cabinets, storage and shelving units for the beauty industry. The organisations have embraced the concept of prototyping their new innovations and are collaborating with the council to identify further waste streams and potential for new product and social enterprise development.
The project highlighted the vast range of circular economy opportunities available. It highlighted key barriers for social enterprises, namely access to finance, organisational capacity and capability. In developing the programme further, we are looking at the inclusion of a seed fund to allow further product development and scaling up. The community organisations are largely manned by volunteers who give their time freely. Any future programme would also need to consider sourcing support to staff the projects via volunteer network, placements or via the council's employability programmes.
The carbon emission calculation is based on information from the carbon footprint calculator provided by World Wildife and Bellona.
World Wildlife equates 50% of 1 tonne of wood to carbon emissions. It is estimated this programme has used one tonne of wood, which corresponds to 0.5 tonnes of carbon emissions.
Bellona calculates 1.9 tonnes of carbon emission for every 1 tonne of steel used. We have estimated that 0.25 tonnes of steel was used, corresponding to 0.475 tonnes of carbon emission.
Our Changeprint
Our Changeprint can be measured by number of social enterprises established and supported through the programme; number of circular products/services prototyped or launched (e.g., upcycled planters, food products, furniture); tonnes of waste materials – wood, steel, glass, etc - diverted from landfill for reuse; estimated carbon emissions saved through reuse/repurposing; number of participants reporting increased skills or confidence; number of people engaged in workshops or events.
