Young people at Darwen Youth Zone have reused old T-shirts into trendy new tote bags as they learnt about the importance of recycling.

Led by SUEZ Recycling and Recovery, they focused on biodiversity and sustainability during their school holiday workshop.

The scheme, part of the corporate volunteering scheme, is intended on upskilling young people and giving them career insights.

Children learnt how to make bird feeders in the morning to create a space for nature in their gardens whilst the T-shirt lesson was run in the afternoon.

Tamara Hitchen, from Blackburn and Darwen Youth Zone, said: “Corporate volunteering is a fantastic way for SUEZ employees to connect with young people, upskill them, and give back to a local charity.

“The young people learn a lot from their interactive, fun sessions, and we’re grateful for their ongoing support as patrons.

“We look forward to more exciting workshops in the future.”

Through corporate volunteering patrons of the youth centre have conducted 21 workshops across both Blackburn with Darwen sites.

These have been run by the 94 corporate volunteers and totals over 526 corporate volunteering hours provided to the 5000 members of the Youth Zone patron network.

Lorraine Thompson, Administration Manager at SUEZ, organised the workshop. “We wanted the young people to take something away from the corporate volunteering workshop that they could be proud of while learning more about the concept of reuse.

“We were thrilled by the young people's enthusiasm and their keen interest in the broader message of sustainability.

“It was great seeing the young people being creative and using their imagination to come up with some brilliant designs.

“The Youth Zone provides a vital service for young people in the local area, and we are delighted to support them as a patron and to have the opportunity to attend and run corporate volunteering workshops”.

The scheme was piloted last year and due to its success, it has now become an essential part in the youth centres holiday clubs.

SUEZ are a local waste management business which is dedicated to protecting the environment and building a sustainable future.

A core part of their mission is to reduce resource consumption by encouraging reuse of existing materials.

Blackburn with Darwen Youth Zone are looking for new patrons who are interested in joining the Corporate Volunteering workshop and making a positive impact in the community.