THE grand opening of a café and pre-loved shop in Newton-le-Willows follows the environmental project of students from a specialist learning college.

The café and shop at Lyme and Wood Learning Hub on Vista Road opened earlier this month and is run by students from LEAP college.

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The scheme, dubbed The Not Too Shabby project, is aimed at reducing household waste, increase recycling, and encourage resource reuse.

The project, which received £8000 from the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority and Veolia Community Fund, will see students from the autism learning college learn about the importance of recycling whilst developing catering and social skills as they serve hot drinks and sell reused items for the community.

Lauren Molyneux, teacher and project lead at LEAP, said: "The project is all about promoting more sustainable ways of living and for students to learn vocational skills in sectors like woodwork, horticulture, retail and hospitality.

"The shop sells pre-loved items such as clothing, footwear and products handcrafted from materials, for example reclaimed timber and textiles.

"It is also an official stockist of ReColour paint - a chalk paint made from recycled emulsion.

"Our furniture rescue scheme allows customers to select a piece of furniture to be upcycled using any of the colours from the ReColour range, as well as any other tweaks they wish to be made."

St Helens Star: The cafe and shop opened earlier this month The cafe and shop opened earlier this month (Image: Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority)

The project began in June and has already provided LEAP students with opportunities to receive training and gain life skills, with the hopes of preventing up to four tonnes of material from going to waste.

The teacher and project lead also shared how the funding will be used to deliver workshops and virtual tutorials and will help students gain an insight into the employment industry.

Councillor Tony Concepcion, chairperson of Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority, added: "This has been a great project as it has targeted a variety of materials which we know can be used again and not wasted.

"The Community Fund is great at reaching people we wouldn’t normally be able to, raising awareness of waste issues, giving these students the knowledge and skills to help use Earth’s resources sustainably."