My Action Plan
SUSTAINABILITY ACTION PLAN 2025
My business is Kiri Cottage Crafts, a microbusiness set up to celebrate and educate others about our textile craft heritage. I am a spinner, weaver, knitter and crocheter, and can turn my hand to a variety of other textile skills as the need arises. In addition, given the historic links between the Stangford Lough area and Scandinavian countries, and the inhabitants who left there to go ‘viking’ i.e., to go on sea-faring voyages and raids, I also offer a number of Scandinavian crafts that they might have brought with them e.g. peg loom weaving, nalbinding, lucet braiding and rya weaving.
I have a small workshop space, two bespoke shipping containers joined together, well insulated, double glazed and air tight. It is wheelchair accessible and has a composting toilet with hand sanitizer. There is no running water to either the workshop or the toilet. The workshop houses 14 (at last count I think!) spinning wheels, and a significant amount of equipment, materials, books and other materials. A bit of a Tardis in reality! A fair amount of the materials have been gifted, bought second hand, or are recycled/ reused. I am a one-person band, but can call on fellow crafters to deliver or co-deliver specific workshops as required, where perhaps I am not skilled – or good at – the craft in question.
Textile crafts are generally ‘unplugged’, certainly spinning wheels, knitting needles and crochet hooks etc. work without electricity. I do have one e-spinner, bought with the view it might suit participants with mobility issues who may not be able to use the traditional treadle mechanism. Electricity is used for lighting and heating (LED strip lighting and one heater, used only for the duration of workshops as required, depending on the temperature and degree of daylight available). It is also used to power the hot water tap for tea and coffee, the oven to bake scones and buns and the dishwasher to clean up at the end of the day. As I run a maximum of 1 x 3 hour workshop a week currently, I don’t feel that this creates a significant footprint, and actions in this area, also that of water and waste, do not feature large in this action plan.
As regards waste, I do have about a 30% – 40% wastage when processing raw fleece to wool. This is due to parts of the fleece being of poorer quality or very dirty. I used to dispose of this in the bin, however now I redirect it to other craft projects, use it as mulch in the garden, and have put it on very poached and muddy parts of the field where my horses tend to stand, where over time it felts and gives a cleaner surface to stand on.
As regards food waste, anything left is not wasted (instead it tends to go to my waist…). Coffee grinds, bun cases and tea-bags are composted. I undertake all the usual recycling though my household domestic bins, and take soft plastics to recycle facilities in Tesco.
I host a fortnightly craft club, which is open to anyone in the local community. It is free of charge, caveated by the option of making a voluntary, spare change donation to a local charity that I support. I have never inquired about the demographics of club members, however though chat I understand that their individual demographics to some degree reflect those of the wider community. Portaferry is recognized as an area of rural deprivation, with finance, isolation and mental health issues highlighted. Club membership sits at about 10, not everyone comes to every get together, and it is quietly growing. Occasionally we will decant to another member’s house for a change, we also bring in tutors so that we can learning a different craft. We are currently looking at setting ourselves up as a constituted group, so that we can apply for funding to run more courses and in turn develop more craft skills – thus bringing my activities full circle to what I have set out to achieve with my business.
I also have long experience in delivering training and workshops t various groups, including seniors, children and young people, and those on a range of neurodivergent spectra.
So, I now look forward to taking more sustainable steps in 2025 and beyond. My focus will be largely on community, inclusion, accessibility and storytelling, very much in line with Agenda 2030 Sustainable Goals 10 in particular, and also to a significant degree Goal 11:
- Goal 10 – Reduced Inequalities through the focus on accessibile and inclusive tourism;
- Coal 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities through the implementation of sustainable tourism practices and promoting the principles of circular economy.
GOAL | What Action(s)? | Who is responsible? | By When? | Notes | ||
Training and Upskilling | ||||||
1 | Goal(s) for upskilling you/your team in sustainable and regenerative practices | To improve my gardening skills and knowledge with the aim of increasing the biodiversity within my garden (adjacent to workshop) |
| me | 31/03/2026 | This is not a high priority goal – but it is a nice one 😊 |
2. | To increase my knowledge of local habitats, also the myths, legends and stories relating to the Strangford Lough area. |
| me | 5 new stories per year on a rolling basis | Good opportunity for collaboration with local tour guides | |
Leaner & Greener – how we will reduce carbon emissions and costs through managing energy, water and waste | ||||||
GOAL | What Action(s)? | Who is responsible? | By When? | Notes | ||
3. | Goals for Carbon Emissions and Carbon Footprint | To review the ‘Place Paradigm’ and determine how I can contribute to each of the 6 areas. |
| me | 30/09/2025 | I like these 6 categories and feel that I can ultimately contribute to each in various ways. I also like their alignment to TNI’s EAGS segmentation. |
4. | Goal(s) for Energy Conservation & Energy Management | To attach a timer to the electric heater in the workshop |
| me | 30/09/2025 | My electric usage is from our domestic household source. An action point here could be to track the amount of time I use individual electric appliances over the course of a year (usage is very seasonal), then identify a pro rata usage rate, complete the template and set a target for reduction. However, I think a pro rate would be at the very best a good guestimate, and as my footprint is currently very small, there is probably a disproportionate amount of work involved in determining a baseline, monitoring etc, against the benefit of doing it. |
5. | Goal(s) for Waste Management | To review the sustainability of the ingredients used to feed workshop participants and other visitors |
| me | 31/12/2025 | This is really a Scope 2 issue, and currently I feel a bit limited in what I can do to buy more sustainable brands and products. It is a balance of cost of supply, against increased fees for participants. However, it is a useful exercise to be repeated annually, as things change. |
6. | To review the sustainability of the materials and equipment that I use in demos, talks and workshops |
| me | 31/03/27 | Similar to goal 5, there is a balance between cost to produce by using more sustainable sources. | |
Better & Brighter – how we will help our business and our visitors to make the world a better place | ||||||
GOAL | What Action(s)? | Who is responsible? | By When? | Notes | ||
7. | Goal(s) relating to biodiversity | To use what I learn from Goals 1 & 2 training to develop a light touch biodiversity strategy for integration of stories relating to immediate and local habitats. |
| me | 31/12/2025 | This goal links to goals 1 & 2, as they are about storytelling and local biodiversity. This is particularly significant as Strangford Lough is an SSI and AONB. And as regards myths and legends, we have plenty! |
8. | Goal(s) relating to accessibility and inclusion | To write a light touch ‘Accessibility Policy’ for my business |
| me | 30/09/26 | There are a lot of actions here. I suspect as I work through the actions a smaller number of common threads will emerge – even from a light touch review. I recognise that this is a very important element in my sustainable journey, with significant links to community and inclusion. |
9. | Goal(s) relating to community | To define my ‘communities’ and the purpose of my relationship with each |
| me | 31/03/26 | Some communities already identified:
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10 | To define my stakeholders and the purpose of my relationship with each |
| me | 31/03/2026 | This is similar to goal 9. Some stakeholders have already been identified (and some overlap with communities):
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Louder & Prouder – how we will communicate and market our sustainable and responsible practices | ||||||
GOAL | What Action(s)? | Who is responsible? | By When? | Notes | ||
11. | Goal(s) relating to communicating and marketing sustainable and regenerative practices | To consider how the ‘Slow Tourism’ approach can benefit my business |
| me | 31/07/2026 | This relates to a TNI Slow Tourism Webinar that I attended. I think that it is very applicable to my offering as the craft skills that I advocate are very mindful, meditative, slow processes by their very nature. |
12. | To identify my most relevant customer segment(s) and develop a light touch sustainability focused marketing plan. |
| me | 31/07/2026 | As I am a micro business, I consider a light touch approach to be most applicable. | |
13 | To create a compendium of stories, myths and legends |
| me | 31/03/2026 | Some themes already developed:
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