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Case study: Alara Wholefoods

Alara Wholefoods consistently runs exciting community projects which not only aim to improve the environment, but also educate the company's employees and local community with regards to where food comes from, how to tend a garden and grow crops, and the benefits of sustainable and organic living.

The local community and Alara staff are consulted throughout the projects and are given the opportunity to be actively involved in the planning and development of them.

In 2008 Alara created a new Permaculture Forest Garden on wasteland surrounding its site. Working with the local community Alara removed over 50 tonnes of rubbish to create a green space that is not only used to grow fruit and vegetables, but to sequester CO2 and dispose of biodegradable waste, to be reused as compost.

The success of this project has led to two further projects in 2009 - the development of a vineyard, and a community garden in collaboration with Camden Council's Black and Minority Ethnic Alliance. Alara has worked closely with local community groups and Camden Council, and has had a high level of engagement from Alara employees.

Alara is now looking to use these garden models to create more productive green spaces in urban settings in conjunction with Groundworks (an organisation which support communities in need) and Community Spaces.

Highly commended at the 2009 Community Partnership Awards: Local Community Category

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More Information

• Community Partnership Awards
• Winners 2009 - Community Partnership Awards

FDF has published a booklet Community Partnership Awards 2009 (pdf, 916kb) featuring a range of company case studies from Community Partnership Award winners.