Students Sew Involved in Waste Reduction

Students from South Eastern Regional College (SERC) campuses have been marking European Week for Waste Reduction this week, by a series of enterprises which promote upcycling clothes and buying pre-loved over fast fashion.

Michael Holmes, Deputy Head of the Enterprise & Entrepreneurship team at SERC said, “Students form our Lisburn Skills for Life and Work and Foundation Learning programmes organised a clothing drive to gather pre-loved clothing in the College for donation to local charities. Lisburn and Downpatrick Level 2 Traineeship NI in Retail students worked alongside numerous local charity shops creating seasonal window dressing displays.”

Skills for Life and Work students at Lisburn Campus also got involved in sewing workshop delivered by local Lisburn Social Enterprise Sew Ready, where participants learnt the basics of hand and machine sewing.

In addition, Level 2 and 3 Creative Media students at Bangor Campus designed and produced a series of short videos and posters for use on social media and display in the local charity shops. These stunning displays of eye-catching and thought-provoking visuals, designed to appeal to the student demographic, were also displayed around the College to promote the benefits of buying pre-loved clothing and to help boost the clothing drive.

Michael added, “Our activities to mark European Week for Waste Reduction culminated in a celebration event to mark the students’ hard work which brought together  the students, representatives from Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, local charities – Cancer Focus, NI Hospice, Action Cancer, British Heart Foundation – and funder, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, to share the amazing work of all the students involved and to enjoy a delicious vegan menu of pumpkin biriyani and jack fruit tacos produced by Level 2 Traineeship NI in Professional Chef students at Lisburn Campus.” Visit www.serc.ac.uk to unlock your future #BetterOffAtSERC.