Food for free
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FANCY some chives in your lunchtime sandwich or fresh mint in your tea?
Edible herbs, fruit and vegetables being grown in planters in Elgin High Street and Cooper Park are all now available to pick.
The planters are tended by Dorothy Allan who works for the Moray-based environmental charity REAP.
Dorothy said: “We’ve got a ‘traffic lights’ system with red, orange and green lollipop sticks.
"If you see a green one in the the planter, it’s fine to pick.
"Orange is nearly ready. Red means let the plant have a wee rest for now.
“People have been coming up to me to say they enjoy picking a strawberry or using some herbs on their pizza."
As well as looking after the planters Dorothy also helps out with REAP’s food waste collection scheme.
She and her electric bike and trailer have become familiar sights in the town centre on Tuesday afternoons.
The bike is used to pick up items such as tea bags, coffee grounds, fruit peels and cores, which are taken to compost bins at community growing sites.
This year it has diverted well over a metric ton of waste from landfill, thereby cutting greenhouse gasses by an estimated 364kgs.
Dorothy said: “I really enjoy going out and about to encourage folk to let me have their food waste instead of binning it.
“Lots of businesses have joined in the collection. Some now have two caddies in their office kitchens to collect their canteen waste, and it’s encouraged folk to do more other recycling, too – they are collecting paper, cans and plastics.”
The e-bike collections and the edible planters are all part of REAP’s Grow Elgin project, funded by the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund until March 2020.
Ann Davidson, REAP's manager said, “It’s a real privilege to work with the community to reduce our carbon emissions. By also growing more of our fruit and veg ourselves locally, we’re cutting down on food miles and packaging."
