Tell us about your story and the impact you have made on the Jersey community:
The Sustainable Cooperative launched in 2018 as a community owned not for profit organisation. We manage a zero waste farm shop and production kitchen, host cultural events, run workshops and collaborate with like minded organisations and government departments. We aim to create a more connected, resilient and empowered community.
To date we have supported over 120 local producers, providing a stable market and fair prices for organic and regenerative produce. We have processed/saved over 1000kg of surplus produce and served over 5000 zero waste agro-ecological takeaways in our production kitchen, while re-using over 15000 glass jars and bottles in our SCOOP LOOP recycling facility. With over 1000 zero waste products, we have removed over 1 million pieces of single use plastic from the supply chain. We have connected Jersey globally with a network of like minded organisations, including Better Food Traders, Good Market Global, Chefs Manifesto and the Living Wage Foundation.
We have organised Grower Gatherings, Farm Open Days, Producer Pop-Ups, Seed Sharing initiatives, formed special interest community groups such as the Jersey Fermentation Club, run workshops for all ages in conservation cooking and sustainable living, provided opportunities for work placements, offered bursaries, given public talks and incubated three new successful food businesses, by sharing our resources and expertise. Our SCOOP SCHOOL education programme has hosted over 400 children and young people.
More information about the work we do can be found in our 2022 Impact Report: https://tinyurl.com/ye2352sy
What activities does your organisation undertake that uses electricity and what is your annual consumption?
Our main sources of consumption are cold storage of fresh and frozen produce, running a commercial production kitchen (weekdays between 9am and 6pm) and charging an EV van.
Current consumption: £450-600/month
Tell us the reason behind your application. Why you should be selected for the giveaway and how it aligns with your values and activities:
A number of people have suggested we apply and we have previously discussed what might be possible at the site with your team. Solar Power could make sense from an operational perspective and using renewable energy clearly aligns with our values as an organisation focused on environmental sustainability. We would not be able to afford a solar installation without this support.
Lastly, tell us about your environmental objectives and how the addition of solar panels will help achieve your sustainability targets:
Caring for the environment is central to everything we do. Transferring some of our energy consumption to renewables will help us reduce our carbon footprint and hopefully act as an inspiration to others to consider installing solar panels themselves. Our review of operations highlighted energy consumption as an area where improvements could be made.