The Circular Communities Scotland team would like to extend a huge thank you to our members and the sector for helping make our 2021 Annual Conference, ‘Embracing a Circular Future’ such a success.
Our theme of ‘Embracing a Circular Future’ recognised the extreme challenges of the past 2 years, and we placed a strong emphasis on the recovery of our sector. However, we also celebrated sector reslience and opportunity, and were delighted to invite the new Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, Ms. Lorna Slater, to speak. We were also delighted to launch our 2021 Impact Report, also titled ‘Embracing a Circular Future’, which can be viewed here.
For the safety of our delegates, we hosted our conference digitally again this year on Hopin, and were pleased to receive over 115 attendees throughout the day. In case you missed it, or would like to revisit a talk, you can watch all the speakers in full below. Please access the schedule, speakers, sponsors and timings here if you would like to navigate the video or find one particular session.
Special thanks to our host Dr Heather Reid, and our speakers; Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity Ms. Lorna Slater, Dr Katherine Trebeck, Co-founder of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, Jill Farrell, Head of Customer Engagement and Communications at Zero Waste Scotland, Key Note speaker Graeme Obree ‘The Flying Scotsman’, Jana Žůrková, Network Development and Innovation Manager at RREUSE, Claire Downey, Policy and Research Director at the Rediscovery Centre, and Susan Cheyne, Business Development Manager of Instant Neighbour.
Also to our members Ruth Stone, Senior Low Carbon Communities Officer of Changeworks, Bev Knight, Head of National Operations at Trade Right International CiC and Joanne Elston, Swapshop Coordinator of SHRUB Coop for sharing their stories of the sector on the ground.
The event was made even more interactive and engaging by break out session leaders; Kieran Daly, Head of Market Building at Social Investment Scotland, Jimmy Paul, Director at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland, Emily Beere, Co-founder of Thriftify and Sam Moir, Manager of Community Support at Revolve.
Delegates were also able to visit our expo booths, hosted by several of our sponsors as well as Cycling Scotland, Social Print and Copy CIC, Redeem Exchange and Keep Scotland Beautiful.
The conference of course wouldn’t have been possible without our sponsors, Zero Waste Scotland, Resource Management Association Scotland (RMAS), thriftify, Keegan and Pennykid, Just Enterprise, KUDOS Software Ltd, Social Enterprise Academy, REPIC, The Verdancy Group, Better World Books and Social Enterprise Scotland.
If you have questions about our conference, or would like to sponsor, speak at or take part in next years event, email our Events Officer, elaine@circularcommunities.scot.