North London Community Fund 2022-23 - Summary of Projects

NLWA established the North London Community Fund to support waste prevention initiatives in the north London area. The fund provides community-based (non-profit-making) organisations with funding to develop new approaches to reduce waste and/or extend the reach and impact of existing waste prevention activity in north London.

Below is a quick summary of the projects we are proudly funding this year:

1. The Inconvenient Store CIC 

The team at The Inconvenient Store CIC will develop an ‘E11 Circular Hub’, in Waltham Forest. This is a “doing” centre, a space where intentions meet and where community members can learn ways to rethink, reduce and refuse waste through a series of workshops and events.

2. Garden of Earthly Delights

Based in Hackney, Garden of Earthly Delights will deliver a ‘Woodshop of Recycled Delights’ - a series of woodworking sessions aiming to upskill local people and turn ‘would-be’ waste into carpentry.

3. Octopus Community Network 

Octopus Community Network will form a network of three neighbourhood-based food-waste ‘Compost Hubs’ in Islington on three estates. Each site will be people-powered, community-centred and supported by an ‘Urban Soil Farmer’.

4. Artist Hive Studios CIC 

Based in Upper Edmonton, Artist Hive Studios CIC will be offering a ‘Repair, Restore, Reuse’ workshop programme that will benefit communities in Enfield, aiming to teach local residents the fundamentals of sustainable design in order to tackle waste.

5. Our Home Our Planet CIC 

Our Home Our Plant CIC will put on six ‘Eco Show and Tell Community Events’ sustainability fairs in Barnet. These will be run by local community groups and activists to showcase the community work taking place locally.

6. Forest Recycling Project

The project behind the Community RePaint Scheme in north London will be raising awareness and growing their service to make paint recycling the norm and avoid it going to waste in north London.

7. Fashion for Future 

Based in Hackney, Fashion for Future, will be offering 112 workshops around clothes mending and redesigning, aiming to reach 1120 residents of north London. They will also provide a platform for local designers to sell their pieces.

8. Camden New Town Community Festival 

Camden New Town Community Festival will set up the ‘Fix Make and Mend Project’ in their ‘Green Corner’, which will feature Make ‘n’ Mend, Dr Bike, electronic and woodwork repairs, sustainable cleaning strategies, healthy meal planning and other activities to reduce waste in Camden.

9. Laburnum Boat Club

The project in Hackney will engage with 50 disadvantaged, disabled and vulnerable young people and their families, to discourage food and textile waste through education.

10. Bowes Park Community Association

Bowes Park Community Association will take their flourishing Bounds Green Food Bank (BGFB) a step further and form the BGFB Eco Project to build on existing recycling and reuse strategies, in line with their vision to make the food bank zero-waste, plastic-free and a place that generates compost.

11. Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm

A Barnet-based social enterprise, will raise awareness about food waste and composting through their family-focused ‘Composting and Food Waste Reduction Pilot’ project. They will become a self-sufficient hub – their compost end product will be used in their community garden and the garden produce will be sold in their café.

12. Nappy Ever After

Nappy Ever After which operates in Camden, Hackney and Islington, will expand its nappy laundry service through the renewal of its e-cargo bike, increasing its stock and raising awareness of its service, to facilitate a departure from disposable nappies in north London.

Projects focused on electricals

13. Mer-IT

Mer-IT will offer a free professional repair service for beneficiaries of community centres and residents of Camden, Hackney, Haringey and Islington. The service will be student-run meaning it will not only reduce waste, but it will help get young people into employment.

14. Possible

Possible will seed community repair clubs for their ‘Five Weeks of Fixing’ project targeted at people with an interest in repair in Camden. The electrical items for repair will be saved from waste from a local Reuse and Recycling Centre and the fixed items will be donated locally.

15. The Mill

The Mill, based in Waltham Forest will deliver the ‘Forest Fixers’ – a series of repair cafes teaching people how to fix their small broken appliances and devices not just to stop things from going to waste but to upskill café guests in how to repair and maintain their items.

16. 2econd Chance

2econd Chance will run a refurbished machine donation scheme to reduce the number of machines going to waste and support Barnet’s most vulnerable residents.

17. Haringey Fixers

Haringey Fixers supporting the repair of household goods.