Cyclestation decided to become a member of Circular Communities Scotland in June last year (2022) to assist us in embracing circular economy practices, to allow us to demonstrate our commitment to environmental stewardship and help enhance our reputation with our local communities. Aligning with our communities and customers values has in turn unlocked an ability to build brand loyalty, attract new customers, and differentiate CycleStation in our market. Our membership with Circular Communities Scotland and our continuous development of working towards a circular economy offers numerous benefits, including improved resource efficiency, waste reduction, economic opportunities, enhanced resilience, climate change mitigation, customer satisfaction, regulatory compliance, and the preservation of natural resources. We were delighted to invite Chris Sanderson to visit us at Darvelo 23 to witness first hand some the work that we have undertaken a year on from becoming a member of Circular Communities Scotland.
Being a weekend event, Chris visited Darvel along with some of her family who were kept entertained by the many events and stalls that were on display, not to mention the live music in ‘the Corner’ community hub space. The Darvelo Committee invited Chris to judge the prizewinners for the design a cycling Jersey competition at Darvel Primary School, expertly organised by East Ayrshire Active Schools (more to come on this shortly)
Chris commented that, “CycleStation is a dynamic force for good in the bike reuse world and an active, valued member of Circular Communities Scotland. It’s fantastic to see the amount of bikes and parts that have been rescued and refurbished through the efforts of volunteers and staff and to hear about the associated social, environmental and economic benefits that results from these activities and services. This is a great example of what the circular economy looks like at a local level. At Circular Communities Scotland, we are all about supporting and representing our members and the Affordable Access to Bikes Project allows us to do this for the bike reuse sector. Members like CycleStation have all the expertise and experience so our job is to help join the dots at a strategic level and share the statistics and stories that evidence the great work that is happening.
Alan Vass, Director of CycleStation said “Its really great to meet Chris and her family at one of the largest cycling orientated community events which we have been involved in organising, the support from Chris and the Circular Communities Scotland Team has been critical in facilitating the adoption of circular practices in the past 12 months which has already lead to significant environmental and economic advantages including saving 650 bikes from landfill by reusing component parts and the redistribution of these parts and whole bikes in addition to creating multiple volunteering and employment opportunities in our local communities. This alone makes the membership extremely worthwhile and I would highly recommend it to other like minded businesses or organisations”.
