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This weekend we were part of a great team promoting sustainability here in Folkestone. Featuring several talks from composting to gleaning, plogging to wood recycling.

Folkestone Sustainable Futures Forum had been a long time in the making with the participants attending several Monday evening coaching events to give them the confidence to speak at this event.

Between each presenter session there were break out tables which enabled the audience to have further conversations with the speakers in their chosen field. This proved very popular.

Sharing ideas can be hard!! Especially when it comes to sustainability!

It was a great Saturday afternoon, hosted at The Burlington Hotel, on a beautiful day, with lots of blue sky and great views over the channel. Inspiration indeed for all those taking part and behind the scenes.

The below all presented on the day, and we have made some amazing collaborations and long term partnerships to provide materials removed from the many construction projects we undertake and put back into the circular economy.

Georgie Brown – Seagarden

Myself and my partner run an independent soap company established with the aims of providing a naturally handmade product to fund our coastal awareness projects and invest what we take back into other local preservation schemes to keep our message alive.  Seagarden plans to make waves throughout the east coast with our food and drink friendly blend of hard and liquid soaps. With the help from Kents countless coastal pubs and inns, we can work together to keep our seaside view gleaming and not just our hands.

Ed Kyrke-Smith – Rebel Farmer

I’m Ed, 41, a tree surgeon from London. I moved to Kent with my young family in 2015 and I’m now known as Rebel Farmer. After a progressive journey of discovery in the world of Permaculture and Market gardening I am seeking to make a positive change to society by encouraging a change towards a complete relocalisation of the food system and rediscovery of local, seasonal produce. This change can massively reduce our use of carbon creating enormous well being to the community and the natural surroundings, encouraging biodiversity and storing carbon back in the soil with circular waste streams.

Ruth Tyler – Folkestone Youth Project ‘The Shed Urban Wilderness’

Just an ordinary person trying my best to help people and nature.

Wife, Mother, Nanna and Holistic Youth Worker

Not qualified at all to talk about sustainability other than my own story of Creating our Urban Wilderness Site on fresh air, hope and a lot of recycling!

Coming out of my comfort zone to encourage others to make small changes to help nature and highlight barriers to sustainability for low income families.

Leonie Wootton – Sandgate Community Gardens & Incredible Edible Cheriton

I am a volunteer for the Sandgate Community Gardens, Touchbase Care kitchen garden and Incredible Edibles Cheriton. I help organisations and individuals to grow fruit and vegetables, and encourage the making and using of compost from garden waste and kitchen peelings. However not all food waste can be composted in this conventional manner, such as bread, cooked food, chicken bones and fish heads; which is currently collected by the council and taken on a one hundred mile trip to be processed. How can we take care of this valuable resource in our own communities, and reduce the carbon footprint?

India Pearson – Fin & Flow

India Pearson is an Outdoors Advocate and Yoga Teacher. India’s passion for wellbeing and nature has led her to produce and host the podcast ‘Start a Ripple’ which celebrates the power of moving in nature for the mind, body and environment. In 2020 India paddle boarded the length of the Royal Military Canal in 1 day, litter picking as she went, to raise money for a beach cleaning station in Hythe. India is the founder of Fin & Flow, a hub for like minded people to connect through wellbeing activities such as yoga, paddle boarding, and beach cleans.

Beckie Alves – Kent Food Hub

As a busy mum, I know that with the fast paced, busy lives that we all lead, its not always easy to find the time to seek out and visit farm shops and farmers markets.  So a group of us (producers and local people) came together to look at making local food more accessible. Kent Food Hubs CIC offer online and physical local produce markets. Our food hub (where people can order locally produced online) is in Folkestone, and we run physical markets in Folkestone, Dover, Herne Bay and Whitstable

Floortje Hoette – Produced in Kent

Floortje Hoette, Chief Executive for Produced in Kent, membership organisation for the local independent food and drink industry in Kent and Medway, is passionate about making our food system more local and more sustainable, and able to provide for our community. Committed to tackling food waste in Kent, Floortje will explain why farms end up with surplus vegetables and fruit, and how we can make sure that more of that surplus ends up on a plate.

Greg Mckenzie – AW Group

I work for AW Group based here in Folkestone covering projects across the commercial construction and rail sector. Amongst the many hats that I wear is the Sustainability lead for the group. Over the past year we have been engaged in some exciting projects and initiatives, locally and across the UK for the more ethical use of timber/wood either taken out of projects or used for construction purposes. Wood recycling has become a passion for me and the team here and we’re delighted to be able to speak to you about some of the things we have put in place.

Thanks to Liu Batchelor for all the hard work in organising the event.

AW Group is a multi-disciplined construction company providing a broad range of support and manpower across building and rail projects.

Our Fields are:

AW Construction – We offer an outstanding UK-wide fit out service, taking care of everything from scheduling rollouts & ordering materials to assistance with design and onsite delivery

AW Rail – We use the very best labour force and a proactive approach to deliver first-class construction and maintenance projects across the rail industry

AW Labour – We provide a high-calibre blue collar and white-collar workforce with a diverse range of skills, to support the construction and rail industries