How this innovative company is helping your local parks (and how you can help)
With our small bee-focused special event in Wray Crescent coming up tomorrow, we wanted to talk about another essential element to the growing cycle.
If you’ve visited any of the local parks then the plants and flowers you see growing there owe a big debt, not just to local volunteers who are keeping these spaces beautiful after 15-years of austerity, but also to a visionary young man and his innovative circular economy project.
Eslam runs the Sustainable Nutrition Academy. His amazing project sees him gathering compostable waste from bars, restaurants, and offices across North and West London, which he then turns into compost for use in local community gardens.
This project is good for all your parks
What’s amazing about this project is not only that he takes waste which would likely be thrown away or incinerated, but he turns it into compost which helps keep all those parks alive. It’s a brilliant illustration of how locally-focused initiatives like these can make change happen.
Eslam’s project is going through a difficult time at the moment. The cargo bike he uses to gather and transport the compostable waste was written off by a careless car driver a couple of weeks ago, and he is desperate to replace the vehicle.
He’s running a crowdfunding initiative here to try to raise the funds he needs. We at the Friends of Wray Crescent and people involved in Friends groups for parks across Islington have also supported him, as has the wonderful Sunnyside Gardens.
We were happy to help as we know that the compost he creates for us is saving every park hundreds in hard to raise money. High quality organic compost in the quantities we get through cost over £100 a bag, which is money the Friend’s groups really don’t have, even as council cut backs mean they don’t have the cash, either.
In other words, Eslam’s work isn’t just good for plants, and good for the local economy, it’s also a real asset to parks across the borough. It helps us keep the parks as well as we can.
What does Eslam say?
We caught up with Eslam to find out more about what he does, and his vision for sustainable nutrition:
What do you do?
Eslam: As the founder of Sustainable Nutrition Academy (SNA), I wear many hats! I rescue organic waste from hospitality businesses and offices across North and West London, and turn it into compost for community gardens. I am also developing other streams of circular economy from these “second hand raw materials”. Research we contributed to was recently published in The Economist, as the materials we provided have helped provide nature based solutions for sea defences.
Why does composting matter?
Eslam: Composting matters because it improves soil health, reduces waste, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and helps reduce the need for chemical fertilisers whilst conserving resources.
Why does the circular economy matter?
Eslam: The benefits of circular economies are endless. It contributes to tackling climate change and biodiversity loss, it is resource efficient which helps decouple resource use from economic growth, it reduces waste and helps regenerate natural systems. It can also lead to cost savings, job creation, and promote local economies.
Why is there so much waste?
Industrialisation, urbanisation, and massive consumption. We live in an increasingly consumeristic world that rewards unfettered financial growth, at any cost.
What does a day of Eslam look like?
It varies. It usually includes cycling around collecting from various businesses, creating compost, admin tasks, and research.
What happened to your bike?
Unfortunately, the frame of the electric cargo bike that was kindly being lent to me snapped in half after I was pushed in to a pot hole due to a reckless driver turning a corner too quickly.
What difference is it making?
Having an electric cargo bike that I can use whenever I need makes a huge difference. Currently, I am not able to do my work efficiently and I’ve actually been unable to take up some opportunities due to not having access to a bike. Renting a cargo bike is expensive and availability is very patchy. On top of that, the rental bike’s batteries are often flat, and it is extremely difficult to cycle around London carrying a very heavy load with no battery power.
What will you do with any help?
Be incredibly grateful! If possible, I’d like to try and fix the bike for St Mary’s Church and buy an electric cargo bike for Sustainable Nutrition Academy.
We say Eslam is doing great work, and we’d urge you to give him a little support.