Essentially what this means is that non-members will now be able to purchase items from the Exchange without joining, while new and existing Aberdeen Forward members will be able to buy at a reduced rate. This gives you a nice incentive to become a member, but allows you to just pay slightly more and buy that one item you wanted without having to pay a full membership if you only want to purchase a one-off piece of furniture. So if you have friends who always wanted to come down and buy something but did not want to pay for membership, spread the word!

Suite 1

Corner location able to accommodate 6 workstations.

£8,500 per annum.

Suite 2

30 sqm with large walk in 5sqm lockable cupboard.

Would comfortably accommodate a small business with 4 employees.

£6,500 per annum.

All prices include rates and are inclusive of VAT.

Utilities will be billed quarterly.

Additional accommodation may be available, for further information or to view contact Lynn Smith at Aberdeen Forward: 

Tel: 01224 560360 or email lynn@abzforward.plus.com

Local environmental charity Aberdeen Forward has teamed up with Aberdeenshire Council’s waste team to promote this opportunity to over 20 schools and council premises.  Participating sites will receive waste advice and audits designed to cut down on food waste as well as practical help in the form of a compost unit, food bins and compostable bags.

Gillian Marr who will head up the project for Aberdeen Forward said: ‘This is an exciting opportunity to take practical steps to reducing food waste in your school or place of work.  We will be on hand to take staff and pupils through a step by step process from audit to composting which will be backed up with plenty of training and peer support from other participating venues.’

‘The funding and support from Aberdeenshire Council has allowed us to build on our previous work with schools including Kemnay Academy and Alehousewells primary which was unfortunately put on hold due to funding issues.

The aim is to establish a network of council premises who can learn from and support one another in composting on-site.  This is an opportunity for Aberdeenshire schools and council premises to lead the way when it comes to dealing with food waste.

Amanda Ingram from Aberdeenshire Council said: “We have around 600 staffed premises across Aberdeenshire, many of which generate food waste.  Many of our sites already compost their own food waste on-site using small scale composter units however this project will enable us to look in more detail at the types and amount of food waste being generated and focus on identifying and implementing site-specific opportunities for both waste reduction and composting food waste on-site.  The data and findings of this project will also be used to consider potential food waste collections from some of our larger council premises this year.”

For further information on this project or to register interest please contact Gillian Marr on Tel 01224 560360 or email Gillian@abzforward.plus.com or Amanda Ingram on Tel 01467 628680 or email Amanda.ingram@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

The Aberdeen Forward offices and the Creative Waste exchange will be closed from noon on Friday the 23rd of December.

Both the offices and the Exchange will open again on Wednesday the 4th of January at 10am and will resume normal opening hours from then onwards.

Merry Christmas from everyone at Aberdeen Forward and we will see you in 2012!!

Aberdeen Forward currently has a vacancy for a Waste Prevention Officer. The successful candidate will be responsible for managing the development and the day-to-day running of the Aberdeen Forward Composting at Schools Initiative. This vacancy is 21 hours a week and is £21,000 pro rata, until December 2012.

If you are interested please contact us for more details or to submit your CV.

See here for the full job description

Aberdeen Forward runs a range of reuse activities including a Creative Waste Exchange that sells furniture, stationery and craft materials and regular swishing events where people can update their wardrobe without emptying their bank account.

Like other members of Revolve, Aberdeen Forward had to gain approval from a Revolve Quality Officer before being able to join the network. This involved the organisation being checked against a range of standards including health and safety, trading standards and waste management. Graham Hobson, Revolve Quality Officer for North and East Scotland said ‘I am delighted to welcome Aberdeen Forward into the network and look forward to helping them reach even higher levels of quality over the next few years‘.

21 hours per week

£14,000 per annum pro rata

Aberdeen Forward is looking to recruit an enthusiastic self starter to join their small team.  This position is ideal for someone starting out in the environmental field or someone looking for a career change.  This is a hands on community based post and will involve work in Moray developing volunteering opportunities in the environmental sector. In addition there will be a requirement to attend local community events and engage with hard to reach communities.

The ideal candidate will have some knowledge of environmental issues particularly waste reduction and prevention.  They will be motivated, outgoing and enjoy meeting new people.  Interviews will be held on Monday 19^th December in Elgin, with a start date of Wednesday 4^th January 2012.

For more information please contact Gillian Marr on Tel 01224 560360.  For an application form email Gillian@abzforward.plus.com

Next week (19th till 26th) is the EWWR, or European Week for Waste Reduction. As part of Aberdeen Forward’s events for this week we will be opening the doors of the Creative Waste Exchange to non-members. This means you can come in and buy cheap second-hand furniture, crafting materials and stationary without being required to sign up for membership and pay the membership fee for the whole of next week.

If you’re not sure what the Creative Waste Exchange is all about take a look over here: CWE.

You can come along and browse for free any day and if you decide to purchase anything, big or small, next week you don’t need to be a member.

Member Discounts

But you might be reading this and thinking, “I’m already a member. I paid my membership fee. What good is this to me?!”

Well if you are a member already prior to the Open Week then you will benefit from a 25% discount on all items in the CWE. Furniture, stationary, whatever! 25% off on everything for loyal members.

Sounds good? Well get down here next week (starting on Tuesday 22nd of November) and take advantage of the deal. Only during the European Week for Waste Reduction, while stocks last.

All three sessions will be held on a Tuesday evening from 6pm to 8pm.

The dates you are looking for are:

Tuesday 22nd November – Reusing Christmas Cards
Tuesday 29th November – Reusing Christmas Gifts
Tuesday 6th December – Reusing Christmas Decorations

The entry fee is £5, but the sessions are FREE for over 50s.

There will of course be free refreshments also – Tea, Coffee and Biscuits.

We hope to see you there!

Bring your unwanted clothes along any time in the week leading up to the event (we’ll keep them stored up until the main event) and then come down on the Thursday at noon for the Swish itself.

For every 1-3 items you donate you will receive a voucher you can redeem to take home up to 3 other items.

From 12pm till 1pm there we will be time to browse what’s on offer, have a look around our Creative Waste Exchange, and take part in some free craft workshops. Then at 1pm we will open the doors and allow you to pick the items you want to take home with you. The doors will be open the rest of the afternoon so if you can’t make it at 1pm you can always drop in later and see if there’s anything nice you’d like to pick up.

Entry is free (although donations are very welcome!) and tea and coffee will be provided.

When deciding which of your items to bring in please remember the following:

- All items should be high quality, do not bring damaged or dirty items.
- Donated items should be clean and either unworn or just worn once or twice. You want to bring something others will want to take away, not throw away!
- No Casual T-shirts, Vests, Earrings, Underwear or Swimwear will be accepted.
- Unfortunately if you don’t spend your voucher we cannot return the items you donated yourself, so please be sure the things you bring are unwanted items!

We hope to see you there on the 1st of December. If you want more info email us (admin@abzforward.plus.com) or give us a call on 01224560360.

Click here to see our event on the official Swishing website.