A guest post by Becky Webb, Place Coordinator for Llandrindod Wells Working Together
A ‘what’ economy?
Mention the circular economy to most people in Llandrindod Wells and you will be given a blank look. People are not sure what it means and how it impacts on their everyday life. Is it just big words, a demand on people’s time and yet more pressure to do something else?
Too busy to even think about it!
Many families are just too busy managing the demands of today and juggling a hundred different demands on their precious time to be thinking about the local management of resources, reducing the amount of stuff that goes to landfill and climate change.
It’s not that people don’t care, it is just tough to raise children, run a household, hold down a job (or two), balance your budgets, stay sane, and don’t even mention a global pandemic on top of that. Life can be hard for us all.
Finding out about what matters
But if you start asking people about what matters to them and listen to what they say and then act upon their concerns, it is possible to start the ball rolling and engage people where they are already at. Bring that together with another band of people who are so passionate about climate change and saving the planet that it affects their every decision, and you can start to make a meaningful difference not only to the planet, but also a positive difference to people’s lives.
A win-win scenario
That’s just what Severn Wye has done in Llandrindod. We drank many cups of coffee (Fairtrade of course), listened to lots of different people in many cafes, baby groups, schools and businesses and worked with them to find some answers to the issues they faced, like not having enough money to buy school uniform or not being able to afford tools needed to fix up their homes. By hearing about the problems and then working on the solutions together, we have found ways to reduce the stress in people’s lives whilst also building the circular economy in Llandrindod and really helping people to reduce, recycle and re-use the amount of goods they use. Along the way we were also addressing the UN SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) numbers 12 – sustainable consumption and production and 13 – climate change.
The key ingredients
It helps that there was huge support and funding from the National Lottery Community Fund and the Welsh Government’s Circular Economy funding. It is also hugely advantageous to have the backing of local organisations, including the Town Council and Llandrindod Transition Town group. But the result is the Hive, a community building that is home to several initiatives that support local re-use and repair of goods in the heart of Llandrindod including the Cariad a Cwtch baby bank, a Uniform Exchange, a Library of Things and a Repair Café. These projects have supported over 700 families in Llandrindod with pre-loved goods that have donated from within the local area worth nearly £20,000. Now that is re-using on an impressive scale!
So, how do you develop the circular economy in a rural town in mid-Wales?
The answer is to listen and make sure you are meeting the needs of people where they are already at, to work with them and make it meaningful to their everyday life.
