Crisp packets are turned into lifesaving sleeping bags for homeless people
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Empty crisp packets are being turned into survival bags for homeless people.
Eastgate Shopping Centre sales assistant Gillian McCann has started a group for the Inverness area as part of a growing network across the UK.
And pupils at Kirkhill Primary School have been collecting empty crisp bags so they can be turned into insulating liners for sleeping bags.
Ms McCann, who works at the Grape Tree health food shop, has enlisted the help of her cousin, Lesley Fraser, a building manager at Great Glen House in Westercraigs.
So far they have made four bivvy bags along with 13 survival sleeping mats which Highland Homeless Trust will distribute when required.
The Crisp Packet Project was launched in November 2019 by Pen Huston, a volunteer for the UK charity Surviving the Streets, who came up with the innovative idea which gives new life to single-use plastics while also saving the lives of homeless people.
The material is waterproof and the silver foil lining reflects the heat and keeps the body warmer for longer.
Ms McCann, who launched the project for Inverness and the Highlands at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, staged an awareness-raising exhibition and demonstrations in the shopping centre.
"When the lockdown was announced and I was no longer able to work, I was looking for a project to keep myself busy whilst also wanting to do something that would help the local community," she said.
She initially heard about the Crisp Packet Project while watching a documentary on Channel 4 and then discovered more information online. She is encouraging people to donate washed crisp packets and is also contacting other council areas in Scotland to see if they require bags and mats.
Fashion store Phase Eight has donated protective clothing plastic and other Eastgate retailers are being encouraged to get involved by providing clear plastic from deliveries which will be used to fuse the crisp packets together.
Kirkhill Primary School pupils are taking part in a similar project.
They collected 150 bags which were washed and flattened before being sent to a 23-year-old Somerset man, Miley Porritt.
Mr Porritt spent five years rough sleeping and living in a YMCA hostel before getting his own flat in October and setting up his own ironing business.
His iron is also used to weld together the crisp bags into sleeping bag liners.
Principal teacher Nicola Morgan heard about the project, which will keep rough sleepers warmer during the long winter nights.
"The whole school was involved and our eco committee did the organising," she said.
"The bags had to be washed and kept flat before being sent off.
"The children like the idea of bags that would just be put into the rubbish having a new, useful life. They also like the idea of helping the homeless.
"They were really quite amazed at this man’s efforts, though I understand that since going on social media and telling the world about his Iron Man Survival Blankets, he has been inundated with crisp bags."
Mr Porrit said: "When you’re on the street, staying warm and dry is really hard so these liners will make a difference and I want to give something back to the people who helped me."
