Waste Less, Live More. These words take pride of place in the window of The Edinburgh Remakery and, as you step in, greet you in the entrance.
In all our 7 years of operating, nothing has come so close as to encapsulate exactly what the Remakery’s purpose is and what it stands for. The services and products offered are so varied and perhaps seemingly unrelated that to succinctly communicate it all in one go has been a struggle the Remakery staff have undergone daily.
In our new premises at Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre, we wanted to create a space that represented our values, a space to inspire visitors and envelop them in sustainability at every turn. And for that, we needed a strap line that resonated with our core mission.
Early in 2022 we sat down with MEERKATworks, an Edinburgh-based media and marketing agency, and explained what we needed. A few weeks later, they came back with the perfect answer: Waste Less, Live More
Working with MEERKATworks to for our social enterprise – something we had been tearing our hair out over for far too long- was a refreshingly easy and enjoyable experience.
Coming from the outside to build an understanding of an organisation, breaking it down into its various parts, only to build it back up again and surmise it all one succinct and meaningful strap line is no mean feat. But that’s exactly what Alice Bartholomew from MEERKAT did for us.
Because ‘Waste Less, Live More’ is exactly what we strive for here at The Edinburgh Remakery; creating ways for our communities to waste less to allow themselves, their belongings, and even our planet, to live more.
Helping members of our community repair and reuse items instead of wasting them often saves people money, gives people the means to spend their hard earned cash on something more needed and deserved. An experience perhaps, a nice meal, a trip to the cinema. Maybe even a holiday! A chance to live more, you might say.
One of the ways The Edinburgh Remakery helps our community waste less is by taking in donations of secondhand electronics that are no longer used or needed by the owner, whether individuals or businesses. These electronic devices are then repaired or refurbished and a portion are passed on for free to people who need them; those facing financial hardship and digital poverty. This gives people in need the tools they need to access essential online support systems; healthcare, job opportunities, financial support; empowering them. Helping them live more.
Our creative workshops teach valuable sustainable skills, giving people the knowledge they need to mend, upcycle, improve, or repurpose their belongings. Breathing new life into old or broken items, whilst giving people the chance to experience something new, maybe even find their new passion, with a skill they can use time and again.
Wasting less also means less goes to landfill and causes pollution, less harmful chemicals and carbon emissons are released. It means that less new items are needed, thus reducing production, which in turn reduces carbon emissions associated with this production, and reduces the need for valuable materials to be extracted from the earth, all of which would lead to more pollution. All of these steps are harmful to our environment and our world. By wasting less, producing less, the earth itself gets to live more.
And of course, wasting less, fixing and mending your belongings instead of throwing them away, means that your belongings get to last – or live – even longer. In our premises at Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre, The Edinburgh Remakery is able to offer even more ways for people and organisations to engage with sustainable ways to reduce their waste, for the planet, for the community, and for themselves.
Why not pop on in to us and find out more about the work we do to help our communities Waste Less Live More?
