FashionCycle is a brand new sustainability initiative exclusively for My John Lewis customers across the UK. Through FashionCycle, you can return a broad range of clothing items which will be resold or recycled, and we’ll say thank you by giving you £5 off your next fashion or home purchase on the same day. Most clothing items including shirts , t-shirts, jumpers, trousers, shorts, dresses & some childrenswear. For a full list of what we can & can’t accept, please see the terms and conditions on the bottom of this page.
Why have we created FashionCycle as our solution to textile waste?
Over 300,000 tonnes of textiles end up in landfill each year. We’ve committed to help lower this number as part of our Partnership Plan and by introducing FashionCycle we can get more unwanted clothing out of landfill and reused or recycled instead.In our Partnership Plan we committed to all our product categories having a ‘buyback’ or ‘takeback’ solution. We therefore want to ensure that we’re providing our customers with solutions to deal with their pre-loved items.
Where do my clothes go?
We will be working with Satcol, the largest charity owned textiles sorting provider in the UK. At the sorting centre they will separate the textiles into 3 graded types: A For onward selling in charity shops B For selling to secondary markets C If the textile is end of life or not rewearable then it will go through the textiles sorting machine where it separates out the different types of textiles. These separated textiles can then be sold for onwards repurposing into all kinds of products including pet bedding or carpet underlay. This market leading machine limits the amount of textiles that end up in landfill.
Sign up for free to be a My John Lewis member here and bring in five or more clothing items to our shops.
What is BeautyCycle?
BeautyCycle was launched in 2019 and is the first rewarding beauty recycling initiative to be available to My John Lewis members across the UK. Through BeautyCycle, you can recycle a broad range of beauty packaging, and we’ll treat you to £5 off your next beauty purchase every time you return five beauty empties to us.
Which products can I recycle?
Most completely empty make-up or skincare products including beauty jars, tubes, bottles and make-up products. For a full list of what we can and can’t accept, please see the terms and conditions at the bottom of this page.
Why have we created BeautyCycle as our solution to beauty waste?
The beauty industry is a big contributor to global pollution, producing around 120 billion units of packaging each year, little of which can be recycled at home. Working in partnership with a leading global recycling expert, BeautyCycle helps to eliminate this waste by recycling your beauty empties for you and rewarding you in return.
What’s been the impact of BeautyCycle so far?
Since November 2019, more than 85,000 My John Lewis members have donated to BeautyCycle, saving an incredible 425,000 products from going to landfill.
Where do my products go?
From the collection points in our shops, our recycling experts will take your products and either recycle or compost them, or turn them into new products.
See how you’re making a difference
In 2020, we launched our Playground Commitment in partnership with a global recycling expert, and in April 2021, we helped to support the making of a playground at the NHS Becton Centre for Children and Young People. All thanks to you recycling your empty beauty products with us.
The Social Innovation Challenge (SIC) has launched this week looking to fund and support innovators to kick-start solutions that tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our time. The programme is centred around a different theme each year. Building on the legacy of COP26, the 2022 theme seeks innovative solutions to climate change issues faced by rural communities in Scotland.
The Social Innovation Challenge will award up to a total of £50,000 in grant funding, as well as business advice, to support the development of new social enterprise solutions. By using a challenge model, where a reward is offered to whoever can first or most effectively solve a problem, the SIC hopes to incentivise innovators, social enterprises, and communities to apply their knowledge and drive to solve problems in new and imaginative ways.
The programme aims to aligns itself to Scotland’s Net Zero Nation ambitions, as well as contribute to Scotland’s Social Enterprise Strategy. The SIC is delivered by Firstport, Scotland’s agency for start-up social entrepreneurs, on behalf of the Scottish Government.
Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison said: “The Scottish Government is at the forefront of climate action, and we are committed to working with social enterprises to address the issues faced by our rural communities.
“Scotland has a proud history of innovation, and the Social Innovation Challenge can play an important role in helping us achieve our net zero ambitions.”
Social innovations have the capacity to change people’s lives for the better. There are many examples of ideas that have endured the test of time and have shaped our lifestyle and culture – Meals on Wheels, the Big Issue and Parkrun are all examples of social innovations.
Firstport has already supported innovative ideas that offer solutions to rural and climate-related challenges. Examples include Woodside Arran, which champions community-supported agriculture to produce and offer locally grown food direct to all regions of the island, increase food security and create jobs for residents. In Falkirk, Sustainable Thinking Scotland develops biochar as a water remediation treatment, which helps remove polluting nutrients from lakes and lochs, as well as prevent water pollution at its source – agriculture.
Josiah Lockhart, Chief Executive of Firstport, said: “We are excited to launch this new iteration of the Social Innovation Challenge. Over the last few months, we have worked with communities and stakeholders across the country to identify the key climate-related issues faced by rural communities, as well as the barriers to solving these. The insights have shaped the design of the programme, so we are confident that the solutions that come forward will address real needs as identified by those who live in and love rural Scotland.”
Addressing climate change and achieving net zero are big challenges of our time but we know that social innovations can transform the way we live. By putting a big incentive behind it- the SIC grant will be the largest single award Firstport has ever made- we hope to encourage social entrepreneurs and innovators to rise to the challenge!”.
More information about the programme is available on the Firstport website. The Social Innovation Challenge will open for applications on Wednesday 3rd August and will close at noon on Friday 16 September.
An online launch event will be held on 3 August to provide more information and answer early questions from potential applicants or supporters. Interested individuals can register for the online event here.
For more information, please contact Maria Ashley: maria@firstport.org.uk or 0131 564 0331.
The Scotsman Publications have launched their annual Scotsman Green Skills Conference taking place on the 4th October 2022 at the COSLA Conference Centre in Edinburgh.
The event will be hosted by Dave Reay, director of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute and policy director of ClimateXChange.
This conference will explore how Scotland will achieve their targets from the The Scottish Government Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan by tackling some key themes including:
● Tech support in green skills
● Nature-based solutions
● Trailblazing initiative from the energy sector
● How we are supporting the talent pipeline
● Transport
● Heat Decarbonisation
To book your place, please visit the website today www.scotsmangreenskills.co.uk
Use the code EDINCHAMBER for 20% discount on our tickets.
Anderson Strathern: In this one-day management bootcamp, we’ll cover the knowledge and skills needed to handle key issues within your team, including conduct, coaching and improving performance, managing absence, avoiding discrimination, and a great deal more.
The purpose of this session is to enable you as a manager to encourage exceptional performance across your team, through effective management and coaching, in line with your own company’s values. We’ll combine theoretical and practical training, so there will be interaction and exercises for you to participate in and practice applying your new skills in an inclusive environment.
Let us build your confidence in dealing with these issues at their root. This will help you to manage business risks before they become more onerous. Further, knowing that any arising issues will be handled fairly and reasonably by management will result in happier team members. There’ll also be some great opportunities for peer to peer learning and networking.
After this session, you’ll be able to provide more value to your organisation. If a difficult situation arises, your new skills will enable you to resolve it in a smoother manner. You’ll be more able to mitigate the types of business risk which are produced due to a lack of managerial skill.
All of our delegates will receive a training certificate after completing the course and will have access to resources which will be provided on the day.
Musab Hemsi – our principal trainer
Musab is one of Scotland’s top employment lawyers. This means that he has seen all manner of workplace disputes – and crucially, he has helped to create action plans to resolve them and to reduce the likelihood of their recurring in the future. The wisdom that he will share during this bootcamp will be invaluable.
He is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in Employment Law and he chairs the Scottish Discrimination Lawyers Association. He is also one of the Scottish representatives to the European Employment Lawyers Association. He received a Commendation for Junior Solicitor of the Year at the Law Awards of Scotland 2018 and Professional of the Year at the Scottish Asian Business Awards 2019.
Further, Musab spent around five years as a guest lecturer in employment law and general civil litigation at Glasgow Caledonian University. This enabled him to hone his teaching skills and to become the accomplished facilitator that he is today.
Inspiring People Confidence – Managers’ Bootcamp (Glasgow)
Date: 7 November 2022
Location: George House, 50 George Square, Glasgow, G2 1EH
Or
Inspiring People Confidence – Managers’ Bootcamp (Aberdeen)
Date: 16 November 2022
Location: Jurys Inn Aberdeen Union Square, Guild Street Aberdeen, AB11 5RG
(To discuss arranging training days for individual companies, please contact Musab.Hemsi@andersonstrathern.co.uk.)
Sustainability: the buzz word but have you done anything about it yet?
You’ve heard the word sustainability mentioned over the last few years, but have you really taken it into the heart of your business? Is your strategy anchored by Sustainability?
It’s a complex area and there’s pressure on all businesses to implement fundamental changes which can be daunting. But there are many positive benefits of an increased ESG/sustainability focus that you can use to develop your organisation positively:
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Reduced costs and wastage
• Ensure long-term business resilience
• Increased stakeholder confidence
• Better and affordable access to financial resources
• Enhanced corporate reputation
Embedding sustainability into your business is a marathon not a sprint, but the impact of ensuring your staff and systems adopt it within all aspects of the organisation can only help to drive the benefits above and more.
According to a 2022 Customer Attitudes and Behaviours around Sustainability Survey, customers score companies highly on sustainable packaging, reducing waste and a product’s low carbon footprint. Ethical working practices are also on their radar as well.
SGS United Kingdom Ltd have identified five steps to help businesses review their sustainability strategy and make positive changes.
1. Formation of your ESG strategy
2. Review energy usage, emission levels and identifying improvement opportunities
3. Implement changes
4. Develop your sustainability report
5. Publicly disclose your successes and achievements
SGS Academy offer courses to businesses to increase their knowledge of sustainability and how to implement an ESG framework for their business.
If you’re looking for further support download our free Sustainability Consultancy Brochure today and we’d be happy to discuss it further with you.
Diners at The Warren can eat their greens, Welsh produce and coffee prepared with 100% green energy.
Deri Reed opened his Carmarthen café and restaurant in 2016 with strong sustainable and ethical goals.
He felt the need to lead by example and looked into switching to green energy.
Deri says: “I rang my broker, Farmers Energy, who said ‘we can switch you over to 100% renewable electricity and gas’ and when I worked out how much it would cost I thought: let’s just do it.”
The Warren now runs on green electricity and gas from SSE Energy Solutions.1
I was shocked at how little extra green energy would cost. I think if more businesses knew how easy it was to switch, it’d be a no-brainer.
DERI REED
THE WARREN OWNER AND EXECUTIVE CHEF
Key facts: The Warren
Operations: Hospitality
No. of employees: 10
The challenge: Powering a busy, compact kitchen and dining area at The Warren, a multi-award-winning, sustainably driven café and restaurant in Carmarthen.
The solution: 100% renewable SSE Green Electricity from SSE’s wind farms and hydro power stations1 and SSE Green Gas Plus from sources like agricultural materials, food waste and wastewater.
Tackling the climate change crisis, one dish at a time
“Sustainability is at the forefront of what we’re doing,” says Deri, who was the Sustainable Restaurant Association’s (SRA) Chef of the Year 2019/20. “The SRA helps us with writing policies, training our staff and so on.”
Sustainably driven sourcing
This sustainable drive extends to The Warren’s supply chain. “I’m continually making changes to try to make The Warren as sustainable as possible, and I want to work with others who are doing the same,” says Deri.
“We’re choosing to work with companies and local businesses that have similar ethics to ourselves. We buy a lot of our produce from independent, small, organic wholesalers and cooperatives. The cooperative that we buy our staple ingredients from runs its hybrid trucks on biodiesel. I’m environmentally conscious about everything that we do, and energy is a big contributor to our impact on the planet.”
New Project
The Warren’s customers can be confident that they’re supporting an eco-conscious business. Certificates verify SSE Green’s source traceability, matching the renewable energy to the restaurant’s usage from the national grid.
Deri says: “I want to work with people who are looking further down the line at what they can actually do to make the necessary changes. The world isn’t perfect but that’s what we need to work towards.”
Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy and have a huge role to play as we work together to power change. It’s great to work with innovative small businesses on achievable solutions that make a real difference.
NIKKI FLANDERS
SSE ENERGY CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS MANAGING DIRECTOR
Carbon footprint chart
A kitchen’s carbon footprint
Commercial kitchens can use 10 times the energy of an average commercial building. Here’s an example of how a gastro-pub consumes electricity and gas.2
If all the UK’s 128,605 restaurants, pubs, cafés, bars, takeaways and mobile food traders4 optimised their energy usage, it would make a significant contribution to the country’s net zero emissions target.
An energy-efficient, low-waste restaurant
Deri has made changes to reduce The Warren’s carbon footprint. He says: “The restaurant industry is incredibly energy-hungry and can be very wasteful if it’s not monitored, so we have a few practices on site to reduce that as much as we can.” These include composting waste food, reusing cardboard in the garden, installing LED lights and controlling heating.
The Warren is upgrading to energy-efficient equipment too. “We’ve invested in an electric triple-glazed oven, which has helped to cut our energy bills down drastically from using a gas oven,” says Deri. “It’s also made life in the kitchen more comfortable for our chefs as it doesn’t heat the whole room up. There are other things that we can look at changing when the time comes, like potentially moving our gas hobs or boiler system to electric.”
Saving energy is not all around money; it’s about being conscious of how much we’re consuming, and not letting it get out of hand.
DERI REED
THE WARREN OWNER AND EXECUTIVE CHEF
Taking place on level B3 of the St James Quarter car park, the event will be an accessible day time clubbing experience, promoting deaf identity and culture whilst bringing music to the masses. The event line-up will see the very best deaf DJ talent take centre stage including Troi Lee (DJ Chinaman), Matthew Taylor (MC Geezer), DJ Ceri Karma, Jia McKenzie, Billy Reid and Aerial Fung (Def Motion) dancers.
Deaf Rave
B3 Car Park, St James Quarter, St James Crescent, Edinburgh EH1 3AD
Friday 19 August 2022
5.00pm-10.00pm
18+ event
Event and sponsorship queries can be directed to stacy.rowan@deafaction.org
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/deaf-rave
https://www.deafrave.com/
https://www.facebook.com/EdinDeafFestival/
https://www.instagram.com/edindeaffestival/
https://twitter.com/EdinDeafFest Box office number: 0131 226 0000
Introducing you to a bar…. with a view!
Edinburgh’s most exciting rooftop venue has arrived. With stunning vistas of Calton Hill and Edinburgh’s historic city centre, Skyline Sips is the bar the capital has been waiting for!
Our brand-new summer pop-up rooftop bar at St James Quarter will bring to Edinburgh an incredible cocktail and Champagne bar experience.
Established in 2016, Sips is an Edinburgh based pop-up bar company. Over the years, we have operated bars at many festivals and events including the Royal Highland Show, Fly Festival, Musselburgh Racecourse, and the Edinburgh International Festival.
Skyline Sips is opening from the 20th of July 2022 and will operate from 12-11pm, 7 days a week through to 30 September 2022.
Online bookings are preferred, but walk-ins are also possible (subject to capacity).
Location, location, location
We are proud to be located at roof level (level 5) next to Everyman Cinema at the new St James Quarter – the most exciting and talked about development in Edinburgh for a generation.
St James Quarter is a venue where people come together, to eat, drink, shop and discover and is already making its mark on the city’s cultural scene.
Situated at the east end of the city centre, St James Quarter is ideally located, connecting Princes Street to other parts of the city including Queen Street, Multrees Walk and Picardy Place.
If arriving by public transport, trains, trams, and buses are all on the doorstep.
OpenTable Reservations – https://www.opentable.co.uk/widget/reservation/preview?rid=280275
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/skylinesips/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/skylinesipsedinburgh/
Nurturing talent from within the company is a huge focus for the team at MM Search and one that has recently come to fruition following the promotion of Danielle Mullen to Operations Manager.
Joining the firm in February 2020, Danielle has proven to be a vital piece of the jigsaw that holds MM Search and its many moving parts together (whilst also ensuring everything moves seamlessly with expert organisation!)…
Here Danielle tells us what this new role means to her:
“Moving from a sizeable corporate headhunter to a burgeoning boutique brand like MM Search was daunting, to say the least – but I followed my gut and knew it was the right choice. Having worked closely with Ken and Derek for years at my previous employer I completely bought into their vision to make MM Search the fastest-growing executive search firm in Scotland. Doing things differently starts with the people within the business, and I am so proud to be part of the growth of the brand, the team and the company.
“The drive and determination of the founding managing partners and the whole MM Search team, in general, make it a great place to work; we’ve got great leaders and people to look up to.
“Having worked in the recruitment sector for over 12 years I thrive on the fast paced and evolving nature of the job, no two days are the same. Creating a work/life balance that allows me to be at my best professionally and personally is also hugely important; MM Search allows me the opportunity to do this, and for that I am really gratefully. I am excited about my new role as Operations Manager; there’s some more responsibility involved with this new position, and I can’t wait to get started.”
As Operations Manager, Danielle will now oversee a wide variety of the activity in the office, from focusing solely on the roles MM Search is set to fill to working on the financial side of the operations.
Edinburgh Napier has announced the recipients of its 2022 Alumnus of the Year and Young Alumnus of the Year awards.
The University has awarded its Alumnus of the Year award to Nathalie Agnew.
Nathalie graduated from the University in 2005 with a BA in Communication Arts. She is the founder and managing director of award-winning PR agency, Muckle Media.
Since its launch in the Highlands in 2012, Muckle Media has grown to a team of more than twenty staff across offices in Edinburgh, Inverness, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Much of the agency’s growth has been organic, but two competitive agencies have also been acquired – community engagement agency Platform PR in 2015 and food and drink specialist agency Taste Communications in 2022.
Nathalie was praised by the award panel for embodying a number of the University’s values and was described as an inspiration and a role model for Edinburgh Napier students and alumni alike.
The University’s 2022 Young Alumnus of the Year award recipient is Bjørn Hanson.
Bjørn is a double Edinburgh Napier alumnus having graduated in 2020 with a Kino Eyes International Film Masters and again in 2021 with MFA in Advanced Film Practice.
He is a producer and has worked in production in the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Estonia. He recently produced the queer drama FLOAT for BBC Scotland, which won the award for Best Series in the Short Format competition at Series Mania 2022.
Bjørn was recognised by the judging panel for being a talented, ambitious and entrepreneurial young film producer.
Professor Andrea Nolan, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University, said: “I am delighted to announce this year’s alumnus and young alumnus of the year award recipients.
“These awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of our alumni around the world and showcases the value and impact of their Edinburgh Napier education.
“Through peer, student and staff nominations, we identify an individual, or a group of alumni who have shown excellence and distinction in their personal and or professional lives and made a positive contribution to the University, their community and profession.
“A massive congratulations to both Nathalie and Bjørn – two individuals making a real difference in their chosen careers.”
The annual alumnus awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of the University’s global community and showcase the value and impact of their Edinburgh Napier education.
The Edinburgh Napier community was asked to nominate alumni who have shown excellence and distinction in their personal or professional lives and who have made a positive contribution to the University, their community and profession.
The winners were selected by an award panel chaired by Geoffrey H. Day, Director of Marketing and External Relations, Edinburgh Napier University.
