Community Group: GRAB Trust

Researchers: Professor Marylyn Carrigan (Professor of Marketing & Sustainability, Heriot Watt University) and Professor Victoria Wells (Professor of Sustainable Management, University of York)

Location: Oban, Argyll & Bute

Creating an evidence base for the reduction of single use plastic cups through a cup trial in Oban

Kerry MacKay, Community lead at The Grab Trust, said: 

There is less behaviour change at the moment, but small beginnings and ripples are starting to develop.  The indirect impacts have been massive in terms of wider community awareness and connections but also wider awareness in the business sector.

Phase 1 community-led research project

The Grab Trust is a charitable social enterprise that carries out activities to promote waste reduction, reuse and recycling across Argyll & Bute. In phase 1 they partnered with Professor Marylyn Carrigan from Heriot Watt University and Professor Victoria Wells from the University of York to run a waste reduction project in Oban, focused on reducing the use of non-recyclable cups by local businesses.

They recruited cafes in Oban and supported them in a trial switching from single use plastic cups to reusable cups, having secured a donation of reusable cups from Ecoffee Cup which they provided free to participating small businesses.

The researchers further supported the GRAB Trust to communicate the findings to the Argyll & Bute Council and to local businesses.

Capacity Building Project

In Phase 2 the capacity building grant helped The GRAB Trust to further disseminate the findings of the Oban cup trial, by contributing to a research paper that was published in the European Journal of Marketing, presenting the project and findings to the Academy of Marketing Conference alongside the researchers, and holding a ‘Rubbish Summit’ in Oban for local people, councillors, and the local Business Improvement District.

The capacity building grant also allowed the group to engage with national waste reduction partners ‘Keep Scotland Beautiful’ and ‘Zero Waste Scotland’, allowing them to reach a wide cross-section of people and share learning about waste reduction, reuse and climate change issues through a range of networks.

This capacity building work also led to the development of a second trial in Helensburgh, allowing the community-research partnership to compare and contrast between the areas.

Research impacts

Although the project recognises that the pilot in Oban didn’t directly lead to a sustained increase in consumers use of renewables it did help to develop sustainable action amongst participating businesses and working with the researchers has enabled GRAB Trust to build a strong evidence base for future action and policy engagement. 

This work also led to community lead Kerry Mackay being awarded a place on the British Science Association’s Community Leaders Programme, and she has presented her experience of community-led research to other community-research programmes across the country.