About SCOOP
So what's the big idea?
SCOOP is a collective of student groups around the UK that are leading the way in sustainable living at university. Each SCOOP group promotes ways to live sustainably at their university and runs a non-profit, zero-waste food shop, which provides a range of essential non-perishable foods without any plastic packaging.
Zero-waste shops have a reputation for being expensive and impractical. We're here to show you that there doesn't have to be a trade-off between reducing your environmental impact and keeping within your budget. We're committed to ensuring that shopping plastic-free can come at no extra cost and be accessible to everyone. We are strictly non-profit and so any money we do make is put straight back into the shop or donated to a choice of charities selected by you at checkout.
Where did it all begin?
The first SCOOP began at the University of Cambridge in October 2019 and quickly spread to the University of Durham in March 2020 where it launched in its first official store. After that SCOOP reached the University of London in October 2020 before travelling across the pond to launch in University of Duke in the United States in March 2021. The University of Leeds is our most recent recruit with a team set up and its first pop-up store launched successfully in April 2021. Together, members of SCOOP at different universities collaborate on the SCOOP blog to share tips, discuss ideas and engage political issues all about sustainable living.
What's the point?
Of course we're trying to reduce plastic! But, for us at SCOOP, our social impact is just as important (if not even more so!) as our physical impact (the amount of plastic we reduce): we are about bringing sustainable lifestyles and attitudes to the front of people's minds while at university. This is what elevates us from a series of shops to a national movement. The extent of our dependence on plastic and environmental pollution can be mitigated. We just need an alternative. It is time that we take initiative, at the local level, to show that tackling the increasingly insurmountable problem can be done, and it can be done effectively.
It's very easy to get involved with SCOOP, either by supporting one of our shops, volunteering to help out, joining us in political campaigns, or even starting your own SCOOP group.
Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
Robert F. Kennedy
Our Mission
We strive to lead the way in sustainable living at university.
ACTION
To reduce waste (particularly from plastic packaging) by running zero-waste food shops at university.
ENGAGEMENT
To encourage people to reconsider their lifestyle choices, normalise zero-waste shopping and promote long-term political change.
ACCESSIBILITY
To ensure that sustainable lifestyle choices are affordable and accessible to everyone.
We believe
That each of our actions, however small, make us who we are and we are committed to acting with intention.
That our actions have social as well as physical impacts and affect the way others around us make choices too.
That a sustainable lifestyle shouldn't be a luxury for the wealthy, and are committed to making a zero-waste lifestyle possible at no extra cost.