NI Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie has lauded an innovative 80/20 wood recycling project in Newry.

Under the scheme, waste wood and furniture is collected from homes and businesses in the area and is recycled, repaired and sold to the local community.

Income is generated from the charges made from the waste wood collection service and from sales of wood and wood products made by the 80/20 trainees.

Fees are also generated from the provision of training and day care places for people with a disability in the area.

Ms Ritchie said: "The 80/20 project is an excellent example of a community enterprise which will deliver multiple benefits for the area which it serves.

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"Not only does it offer training opportunities for those who might find it difficult, for whatever reasons, to move into employment, but it also it helps to improve the environment by reusing wood products which might otherwise end up in land fill sites and provides a source of cheap wood products for those who live in the Neighbourhood Renewal area."

The project, which was part funded by the Department for Social Development (DSD) through the Neighbourhood Renewal Investment Fund, was developed through a partnership involving DSD, the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, Business in the Community and the Newry and Mourne Enterprise Agency.

The Minister also met a number of young people from St Mary’s and St Joseph’s High Schools who were visiting the 80/20 project as part of the Work 4 You project.

The Minister said: "These projects offer encouragement and assistance for those, including young people and people with a disability in the area, hoping to enter the labour market in these current challenging times."

Ms Ritchie also visited the Ardcarne Park environmental improvement scheme which involves the demolition of six derelict properties in the central area of Ardcarne Park and associated environmental improvement works.

The demolition of the properties and regrading of the area will be a forerunner to a major scheme planned for the estate in 2009/10.

(PR/BMcC)