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Make small changes to be more environmentally friendly

Veganuary is officially over, but that does not mean your efforts to be more environmentally friendly have to end there. There are lots of ways to make slight changes to your daily lives that can benefit your local environment, and community. Here are four ways to support socially conscious businesses and help the environment!

Keep trying vegan recipes 

Lots of social enterprises, and individuals, have been pulling together recipes for Veganuary, but that doesn’t mean they disappear – you can continue to explore new recipes and broaden your cooking skills (A great lockdown activity as well!)  

Buth Bharraigh have a section on their website with tasty recipes you can try.  

And if you fancied some online cooking lessons, Kaleyard offer full cooking courses and one-off classes for all levels. With a full range of healthy recipes, and lots of vegetarian and vegan options too.

Shop local, shop zero-waste 

There are more waste free supermarkets popping up around Scotland that not only use ecofriendly packaging (when packaging is used) but also source their foods as locally as possible! If you live in the Edinburgh area check out The Eco Larder – with shops on Morrison Street and Howe Street as well as a cargo bike delivery service. If you’re in Glasgow, then check out Locavore and Society Zero.

The old classic – Reuse and recycle

This is still an effective way of helping the environment, and there are lots of social enterprises taking on the mantra and placing recycling and reusing at the core of their impact. These enterprises are wide-ranging so you should find something of interest no matter what you are looking for. Some examples include: 

Scrapantics:  A recycled scrap shop in Dundee set up to provide budding artists with access to cheap materials, check out their work:   

WASABED NOWABAG offers a wide range of products all made from recycled materials! You can see their full product line on their website and check out the great environmental impact they’re having.  

Merry-go-round Glasgow – looking for baby clothes? Why not buy second hand? The Merry Go Round shop not only offers a cheaper alternative to buying new baby attire but it’s also more environmentally friendly too!  

How about swapping some of your usual cosmetics for vegan options?

There are a wide range of social enterprises working in this sector and putting people and the environment at the core of what they do! Not only do these social enterprises have social impact at their core, but they are also offering great more environmentally friendly products. 

Check out Mecoco – a social enterprise that offers work experience and on-going volunteer opportunities to disabled people in their community. All their candles and oil scents are also vegan!   

Mbikudi – is an amazing social enterprise that works with young black and ethnic minority girls and women to build confidence and empowerment. Hermine, the founder, designed and made her own brand of beauty products and all of them are vegan. 

Making sustainable changes to your everyday isn’t always easy but if you keep trying new things and see what changes work you really can have a big impact!