Student Enterprise shavings help charity to make savings

The group of students, who study carpentry and joinery apprenticeships at the college’s Lisburn campus, are working on a project to explore the potential of recycling waste material from the College workshops and are funded by the British Council for Youth in Action, which is financed by the European Lottery Fund.

As part of the project, the students researched their market and approached Assisi for some information on their use of saw dust and shavings for animal bedding at the centre. Having recycled some scrap timber, Bellisle Recycling company members along with their coach, David Burleigh, visited Assisi with a gift of shavings.

SERC Enterprise Manager Sharon Browne said: “The College is delighted to support the students in this endeavour as it helps them develop skills which are going to make them more employable, as well as raising the issues and importance of waste management and recycling amongst other students within the College.”

SERC enterprise projects, such as Bellisle Recycling, are designed to give students the opportunity to establish and manage their own businesses. As a result, the students are not only getting ‘real life’ business training and exposure to real business people, but they are taking the responsibility, the decisions and the risks. Currently eleven student companies have been set up and are being run by students, giving them an insight of what can be achieved once they complete their course at SERC.