Eco fund

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Our Eco fund provides grants to local good causes which aim to protect and regenerate our local environment.

Our Eco fund was launched in 2008 when your Society led the way by introducing a 5p levy on one-trip carrier bags. This year, ahead of the single-use bag ban being introduced in 2021, we have increased the price of our Bag for Life from 10p to 15p. This means we can give back even more money to causes which protect our local environment.

We know first-hand what a difference we can make to our environment together, and that's why we're committed to protecting and promoting our islands' ecosystems through our Eco fund.

Eco Fund 2020

In 2020 we received 63 requests for funding across the Channel Islands and were able to donate more than £24,000 to 23 local projects.

Jersey

Project	Funds donated	How the funding will be used
1^st Jersey Sea Scout Group	£890	To create a wildlife garden and outdoor skills learning area within the grounds of St Ouen’s Mill, St Ouen.
Green on Purpose	£2,400	To make re-usable Eco-friendly Jute Bags-for-life and produce bags made in Jersey (plastic free)
Jersey Biodiversity Centre	£1,000	To run pollinator activities with Jersey school aged children and adult volunteer groups that are going to be part of the Jersey Pollinator Project.
Jersey Marine Conservation	£1,000	To educate schools and other groups about why the waters surrounding our island are so important and what threats they are facing.
Jersey Mencap	£1,000	To develop the site around our Jersey Mencap Pond Project, improving and enhancing the environmental impact it makes through tree planting.
Jersey Nappy Library	£250	To offer education packs on reusable nappies and sanitary products to schools, doctors surgeries and midwives
Jersey National Park	£1,500	To restore the wildlife pond area next to their premises, the Frances le Sueur Centre, St Ouen.
Journey to Zero Waste Jersey	£1,200	To work with the education department to promote awareness of sustainable period products available within schools.
JSPCA	£1,000	To transform the Pet Cemetery at First Tower into a calm and peaceful oasis for both people and wildlife, working with the probation service and local schools to create a large pollinator patch.
La Sente Special School	£1,200	To convert a disused patio area into a vegetable garden. We envisage students ground their own veg at individual planting stations along with harvesting rain water and composting.
Plastic Free Jersey	£1,200	To create a number of beach cleaning boxes which will be provided to beach cafes, kiosks and other businesses for use by the public to help clear rubbish from our beaches.

Guernsey

Organisation	Amount	How the funding will be used
Amherst Primary School	£1,500	To install some water butts at various places around the school. The children would then be more able to water the containers regularly which at the moment is difficult because they rely on an adult to turn the taps on and also the taps are quite tricky to use with the watering cans
Children’s Forest	£800	The vision is for children worldwide to plant, tend, restore and protect forests for the future generations. These Children’s Forests will be protected land, a sanctuary for the children of all species.
Floral St Saviour	£600	To construct a pergola in the sensory garden, we are looking to hire the gardens out for weddings and outdoor naming ceremonies.
Health Connections LBG	£1,000	To promote awareness of their Pre-loved & Re-loved charity shop on Smith Street. All funds support their vital Directory to Doorstep service.
La Societe Conservation Herd	£2,000	To provide milk powder, hay and other nutrients to 2 new calves until they can graze on grassland themselves.
Living Streets Guernsey	£864	For the provision of a litter/dog bin on the Baubigny Schools pathway to prevent health and safety problems from increased traffic from local residents during lockdown.
Nature connection	£600	To offer nature connection groups in the form of weekly after school clubs, sessions for Guernsey's home educated community and holiday clubs.
Osprey Project	£1,000	To create a second Osprey nest platform at Guernsey Water’s St Saviour’s Reservoir for Ospreys migrating to and from Africa in the Autumn and Spring
The Clean Earth Trust	£1,500	The Repair Cafe seeks to change social perceptions of what is “rubbish”. By providing free access to skills, we want to support the local community move away from rampant consumerism and towards a repair and upcycle mindset.
WAG. Wellbeing Animals Guernsey	£300	WAG is a local charity of volunteers who with their dogs visit Care Homes, Hospital wards and various other members of the community. We would like to be able to persuade all dog owners, most of whom carry Poo bags when walking their dogs,( many of these bags are made of plastic), to use bags which are made from compostable material such as potato or maize starch.
Youth Commission for Guernsey and Alderney	£1,500	This project will enable young people at two of our youth centres to be able to grow their own food, boosting life skills, nutrition and budgeting skills. The project will involve purchasing planter beds for 2 of our centres, equipment for use with the beds and compost and seeding.

See some of our previous Eco Fund success stories:

Our Eco Fund helps a local enterprise go zero waste

Acorn’s renewable source becomes a sustainable alternative to coal.

Eco fund helps provide sustainable menstrual products to girls in Guernsey

School girls learn about the cost and environmental benefits of going green

How is an outdoor classroom helping Guernsey's children?

Vale Primary school have a new outdoor classroom, thanks to a little help from the Co-op's Eco fund.

How Eco Fund helped Alderney Wildlife Trust

Alderney Wildlife Trust were able to purchase a telescope for their seabird observation programmes.

Protecting Guernsey's bees with the Eco Fund

A donation of £1,600 enabled Guernsey Beekeepers Association to purchase an equipment shed.

How a rope bridge is helping Jersey's red squirrels

A donation from our Eco Fund helped Peter kick-start his squirrel conservation project.

Who we’ve helped previously

In 2019 we received 22 requests for funding from both islands and were able to donate more than £11,000 to 11 local projects.

Jersey

Project	Funds donated	How the funding will be used
Samares School Sanctuary Garden	£750	A Sanctuary Garden to promote the well-being of children within a wildlife-rich area.
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust	£816.36	Empowering local children to engage with the wild natural spaces of the zoo and animal collection. The funds will be used to purchase tablets which will allow students to lead their own learning and help to measure nature connection in Jersey’s secondary school students.
Jersey Trees for Life	£1,000	Jersey Trees for Life plant thousands of whips around the island each winter, with the aim of having one continuing living corridor around Jersey for wildlife to survive in, away from busy roads and prey.
Jersey Heritage - recycling	£1,320	To assist the introduction of a formal recycling policy across the various Jersey Heritage sites. This funding will be used to purchase recycling bins for various Jersey Heritage sites, in keeping with the surroundings.
Save our Shoreline	£1,000	Testing shellfish samples for heavy metals/metals ingested. This is a follow up study after a baseline was taken July 2009. This study will see if the quality of the waters in the Ramsar Area has changed over that time.
Acorn Woodshack	£1,000	The Woodshack uses donated waste timber, which produces waste in the form of sawdust which can be turned into briquettes. The money will buy a Briquette Machine capable of processing different waste, including softwood, shavings or dust, and also shredded straw, paper and cardboard.

Guernsey

Organisation	Amount	How the funding will be used
Edible Guernsey	£1,500	Expand and create a "food forest" growing perennials using low maintenance, sustainable, permaculture principles. The food forest will comprise fruit trees, vines and bushes, perennial vegetables (e.g. globe artichoke, rhubarb, asparagus), herbs and companion plants to reduce pest pressure.
'The Gatehouse' -Victorian Walled Kitchen Garden	£1,500	The funding will be used to buy educational equipment and accessories destined for the new education and heritage/visitor centre. This will help to expand educational programmes through the purchase of educational tools.
SHARE Education Service	£1,500	Providing young people with sustainable menstrual products with the aim of reducing the amount of single use pads, tampons etc. going into Bailiwick refuse.
Little Bears Nature Preschool	£200	To purchase pollinator plants for the outdoor pollinator patch and gardening tools for the children to use in gardening areas, plus wooden planters to display plants.
Guernsey Hedgehog Rescue Centre	£750	Providing head torches and additional Night Vision Viewer, plus equipment for the care and release of hedgehogs. This will help to increase the size of the areas checked.