A partnership between Duror Primary School, Cùil Croft, and the Highland Good Food Partnership brings together pupils, local residents, and growers to tackle food waste and build healthier soils within the community.

The project centres around a Joraform compost tumbler with a 270kg capacity, to compost raw fruit and vegetable scraps alongside some prep waste from the school kitchen. The initiative is particularly valuable in the local area, where there is currently no food waste collection service available, giving residents and the school a practical and local solution for managing organic waste.

The project officially launched with a community event where pupils and residents gathered to learn about composting and explore the new system together. During the launch day, the children had the opportunity to check out worms up close and create their own mini wormeries, helping them better understand decomposition, soil health, and the role of living organisms in the food system.

A small number of local residents have already begun contributing food waste to the project, helping to establish a shared community approach to composting. The collaboration between the school and wider community has been a particularly positive aspect of the initiative, creating opportunities for learning, participation, and shared responsibility around waste reduction and food growing.

There are also hopes that pupils will visit the croft to see how compost contributes to healthy soils and productive growing, helping connect food waste reduction directly with the production of locally grown vegetables.

As the project develops, it aims to build confidence and participation within the community while demonstrating how small-scale local composting can strengthen both environmental awareness and local food systems in rural areas.