Sustainability & Environmental Consulting

Sustainable Wantage, a community benefit group in Oxfordshire, has been actively promoting sustainable living for over a decade. The organization faced the challenge of limited local resources for sustainable practices, such as refill stations for detergents, which were only available in larger cities like Oxford. To address this, they established local initiatives, including a refill station, a market garden, and a community space known as The Mix, which hosts workshops and a repair café. However, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted their ability to run these activities.

To adapt to these challenges, Sustainable Wantage utilized Bioregional’s One Planet Living® framework to create a sustainability action plan. This framework allowed them to assess their current efforts and identify gaps in their initiatives. By mapping their activities against the One Planet Living principles, they generated new ideas and improved their community engagement. For instance, they recognized the importance of community involvement in sustainability, which was exemplified by the success of their repair café that encouraged people to fix items rather than discard them.

During the pandemic, Sustainable Wantage pivoted their focus to address immediate community needs. They launched a food delivery service to distribute surplus food from local supermarkets to 270 households, completing over 3,400 deliveries in just 16 weeks. This initiative not only provided essential support during a critical time but also enhanced their visibility in the community, shifting perceptions from being a niche environmental group to a vital local resource. Additionally, they repurposed their repair café volunteers to fix and distribute 47 laptops to children in need for home-schooling, further demonstrating their commitment to community support.

Through these tailored solutions, Sustainable Wantage not only maintained their core mission of promoting sustainability but also adapted to the pressing needs of their community during the pandemic, showcasing resilience and innovation in the face of adversity.