Estimated Price

£13,600

---

Summary

Open a tool library where individuals can borrow items that people find useful occasionally but don’t need all the time. This project would help our community save money, encourage sustainable practices, teach DIY skills and reduce our carbon footprint.

---

Description

Letham Climate Challenge wish to develop the rear of our Furniture Store to create a community tool library. Just like a library for books, you can have access to things you sometimes need or want to use without spending lots of money and without having to find space for it in your home. Examples include tools for DIY projects or a sewing machine; a pressure washer or a carpet cleaner; camping equipment, specialist cookware or even an electric bike.We currently sell second hand furniture and household electricals PAT tested by our volunteers. This project would allow us to extend the scope of our organisation by reducing our communities spending while contributing to our carbon net zero targets. By using our tool library, members would save money, save space, and save the planet. We are currently in a cost-of-living crisis, and are based in an economically deprived area. The creation of this tool library, would help people save money. Tool libraries across the UK are known to save their uses an average of £300 per user per year. We might all have a small basic tool kit in our homes, but when it comes to larger, more expensive items many people cannot justify the expense.  Home-owners with limited resources could then maintain their homes, which helps to provide for housing security. We currently have a second hand furniture store, and we would like to encourage more of our customers to developing their DIY skills so that these furniture items can be upcycled to increase their longevity. As an organisation we pride ourselves on encouraging sustainable living and sustainable practices. With the production of a tool library, we can provide our community with access to hundreds of useful items for free. This will encourage our community to try out those upcycling projects, to mend their existing items rather than buying new. By sharing resources, we are making our community stronger and more resilient.By borrowing instead of buying we are reducing production and consumption of the same, infrequently used items. Our community would be reducing their carbon footprint and helping to transition towards a circular economy. By not buying new items, we reduce the amount of resources extracted from the Earth, save energy from production and reduce the amount of eventual waste.  We intend to track the amount of items borrowed to track the collective carbon saved by our community. We are promoting the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling among people in Perth, demonstrating how small actions can address the climate emergency.In partnership with our two allotment sites, we hope that by including gardening tools and equipment in our tool library, we would also we encouraging our community to learn to grow their own vegetables. This would then reduce some of the consumption problems by reducing food packaging production and potentially replacing empty calories with nutrient-rich foods.Our volunteers, through use of this tool library could upcycle and repair items donated to our Charity, before they are displayed in our furniture store for sale. This would increase the items value and prevent it being discarded to landfill. As well as access to tools and materials, our expert volunteers can share their knowledge and skills. By becoming a member of the tool library our community are giving the opportunity to get to know other like-minded people in our community.  They can discuss their projects, help each other out and, possibly, form lasting friendships. Our volunteers would be responsible for managing the tool library i.e. stocking shelves, checking-in and checking-out loans and maintaining an inventory.  This project not only saves money but also enhances self-sufficiency and builds valuable skills.We were successfully awarded £20,000 worth of contractual works through Robertsons Helping Hands Grant. They will be commencing works in mid February to structurally adapt the space to allow for floor to ceiling storage of sharable items.We have the space, but now require the tools and equipment to build an inventory. We will seek as much second-hand as possible, but many items will need to be purchased from new. We also need to create an online inventory website to list items available, and allow registration for membership and members to book out items. We expect the tool library to be very popular, so would require a part time member of staff to manage it and itemise all of the items being borrowed and returned.