From the end of July until the beginning of October, we sought households of all shapes and sizes to take part in a social experiment which explored the successes and barriers that people will experience in attempting to adopt a low carbon sustainable lifestyle.

Shopping Local

For one month households were asked to try and source all that their household requires in terms of food through shopping locally and independently

Going Zero Waste

For one month households were asked to reduce, re-use and recycle all their waste with a concentrated effort to reducing completely what is entering landfill.

With ongoing support from the Thurso Community Development Trust, each household was asked to record their experience through diary entries, pictures, and videos detailing their journey and the challenges and successes they experienced. We were not expecting the challenge to be easy and perfect. Understanding what the barriers are was the most important aspect. By understanding the barriers, we can aim to overcome them and make a more sustainable future for us all and the planet.

Some of the key results revealed were:

Barriers

• struggling to understand what they could and could not put into the compost bin

• struggling to find the best place to put their compost bin, due to sloping gardens and windy spots

• struggling to plan meals due to food allergies/intolerances in their households

• struggling to grow their own vegetables

• bird droppings on their compost bin which could lead to corrosion

• not being able to find any local gluten free products, so resorting to the Co-op

• struggling to afford local food for more than two people per week, for example, when family visited

Successes

• being more conscious of the plastic content of the products they purchased

• being more aware of items they could reuse instead of throwing them away to landfill

• learning what can and cannot go into a compost bin

• donating unused items to charity and textiles bank

• recycling soft plastics at Tesco Wick

• using refillable and reusable water bottles and coffee containers

• growing their own herbs

• seeing more wildlife in the garden since their compost bin

• insects and worms in their compost bin, which aid the process

• children being very interested in the compost bin and wanting to check it

• being more conscious of how much food they buy and portion sizes

• finding the local Sharing Shed useful

• Thurso having a good selection of local shops, including butchers, fishmongers, and a zero-waste shop

At the beginning of October all households were invited to an award ceremony at the Pentland Hotel ballroom. Thank you so much to all those who took part - you should be really proud of what you achieved.