ENVIRONMENT

Beach Cleanups

The Loft Collective’s environmental vision originally began with the idea of organised group beach cleanups, alongside future plans for community trips to recycling plants and wind farms. Throughout 2025, the focus shifted to what could realistically be achieved without large resources or external support. This meant continuing with solo beach cleanups, creation of postcards to promote Saltcoats and North Ayrshire, and live art sessions on TikTok and YouTube.

Walks for Mental Health

Over the summer of 2025, the project grew into Walks for Mental Health and mindful exploration of local natural gems in North Ayrshire and Arygll and Bute. The series has gained a growing following on the social media, with local people expressing pride in seeing their landscapes featured. For the Collective, these walks have also been a way of discovering and connecting with Scotland. The clips showcase the beauty of the local area with honesty and humour, while also highlighting the positive effects of nature on wellbeing.

Repurposing Workshops

The Loft Collective first set out to organise free repurposing workshops for the local community in Saltcoats, turning everyday recyclables and beach finds into useful and decorative items for the home. Although funding for this initial idea did not come through, before reapplying, we decided to first strengthen our presence in the local community. In 2025 the project evolved into a series of live TikTok art sessions.

Looking ahead, The Loft Collective plans to develop these sessions further, offering free streams alongside more in-depth, subscription-based tutorials.

The long-term aim remains to provide free in-person workshops for the local community, bringing people together through sustainable creativity.