A WHITEINCH recycling centre will use thousands of pounds worth of lottery funding to provide job opportunities while helping locals “green their garden”.

Glasgow Wood Recycling (GWR), on South Street, has been awarded £5,800 from the Big Lottery Fund Scotland to conduct a feasibility study “to examine the potential for a new service which would offer a collection, drop off and mobile service, repairing and refurbishing everything in the garden either for the owners’ use or for resale by GWR”.

The project will allow staff to develop new skills and provide vital training opportunities around repairing a variety of goods which GWR don’t currently offer such as metal fittings, textiles, equipment, tools and paving.

Peter Lavell, from GWR, said: “We went to Big Lottery because we had an idea that we might do more to clean up our gardens, any garden, or furniture or fencing.

“We will create a service to deliver it and then, hopefully, create more employment opportunities.

“Fundamentally we want to help people make better use of those resources, not just throw them away, and we think that they have lots in their garden that they can reuse and refurbish so we want to see if there’s a need for it.”

He added: “We’re really keen to investigate how we might create more opportunities or create jobs for people. We have about 30 volunteers at present.”

As the group prepare to celebrate their 10th birthday later this year, the study will signify yet another way they aim to help protect the environment.

Mr Lavell added: “The study will be completed by the end of March. We get things that have been been in the family for years or lying about the house for a long time and they usually have a use.

Maureen McGinn, chairwoman of Big Lottery Fund Scotland, said: “This funding will support 19 groups across Scotland to improve the places they live and the wellbeing of people facing challenging circumstances.”

For more information on the study, contact the group at their premises.