Homeless people kick start major recycling project

A leading London charity has today revealed a team of homeless people have helped to kick start a major new recycling project in Southwark.

St Mungo's, London's leading homeless charity, has been working in partnership with the Community Recycling In Southwark Project (Crisp) to produce worm composters for Southwark's residents.

Under the new initiative, homeless men and women attending St Mungo's wood workshop have been working hard to complete 250 wormeries as part of the Southwark Wormery Scheme.

Staff at Crisp will soon deliver the wormeries to people across Southwark to help promote recycling in the borough.

St Mungo's wood workshop helps to develop the skills and confidence of homeless men and women who are often vulnerable and need help to make a positive change to their lives.

Steve Jennings, St Mungo's wood workshop supervisor, said: "Everyone's been working really hard to complete the wormeries to the highest standard.

"A project like this gives homeless men and women a chance to gain some training and work experience and it's always good to see their confidence grow whilst working here."

Pete Philpotts, a wood workshop volunteer worker, said: "The wormeries have kept us all really busy. It's been great to work on such a big project, it gives me a real sense of achievement when I see how many wormeries we have built."

Every year St Mungo's helps more than 10,000 homeless and vulnerable people with housing, employment, training and health.

Copyright Press Association 2006