Reducing Homelessness by developing alternative initiatives to support Homeless people

Extern Recycle is not just a recycling company, it is an innovative high quality social enterprise working to support homeless and disadvantaged people in Northern Ireland into training and employment opportunities.

Extern Recycle provides a safe secure service in the disposal and retirement of IT equipment. Businesses are now legislatively required to dispose of IT equipment which is hazardous under the WEEE legislation (Waste, Electrical and Electronic Equipment). Extern Recycle can help businesses meet their legal requirements through ensuring safe data destruction and providing a full asset recovery service. All the work is regulated by the Environment Agency and a certificate will be provided to support business for audit purposes.

Extern believes that homeless people have a right to be supported into training and employment in order to develop their self-confidence and self worth. This initiative will offer a number of quality outcomes for homeless people that will help to empower and support them to have a healthier lifestyle with future prospects as fully participating members of society.

Extern Recycle believes that Social Enterprise is a positive Pathway to empowering clients through providing meaningful, constructive lifestyle training and employment opportunities.

The main aim of this service is to enable Homeless people to develop a wide range of skills that can help them to gain sustainable employment and recover from homelessness for good. These range from the 'hard' skills needed to do a particular job, to 'softer' skills like communication and negotiation.

The Pathway model using IT & Electrical Equipment recycling processes that has been developed builds on and integrates Extern’s valuable experience developed through the Axis model over many years. This model utilises experienced supervisors to work along side trainees to develop their skills, experience, knowledge and qualifications.

The model is also enhanced by Extern’s detailed experience of working with homeless individuals with multiple needs over thirty years.

Extern Recycle provides a high quality full assest recovery recycling service throughout Northern Ireland that is cost effective to our customers and at the same time generating income that will help to develop other Extern services.

The production activity provides unique opportunities in training and employment to homeless people. One of the key roles for this project is to provide a constructive outlet for residents of hostels. The project addresses trainee's social and life skill needs and ultimately provides them with a pathway to employment and self supported living.

This is a unique and innovative social enterprise which provides meaningful day and evening constructive lifestyle training and employment opportunities. One of the aims of this service would be, to support homeless people in making better choices in their lives, thus having the opportunity to become more successful in terms of stability, structure and vision for their future.

This social enterprise can provide skill development opportunities for up to seventy two homeless trainees per week from hostels and individuals that have been resettled into the community across the greater Belfast area.

This social enterprise provides an adapted working environment, which facilitates supervision and management, along with services to ease the transition of the long term homeless population into employment in a safe supported working environment.

Pathways to Employment Model

Extern Recycle are using a Pathways to Employment Model that helps to encourage and motivate homeless people to engage in the process of learning in a practical work environment.

'Pathways to Employment' is a value led model of service delivery that aims to foster a culture of expectancy that homeless men and women can - and do - work successfully.

Working Hours:

Flexible 8.00am - 8.00pm, Monday - Friday

WEEE Recycling Pathway

ICT Training Pathway

Operational processes include

Trainees have the opportunity to gain experience in the following processes

• Logistics
• Registration & Tracking (Re Data Protection)
• Sorting and weighing
• Hard drive blanking
• Refurbishment
• Software Reprogramming
• Dismantling
• Sales and distribution

Training are provided with

Hostels

This initiative offers hostels throughout Belfast with a unique resource providing alternative meaningful day time opportunities. The service further enhances and supports daily living skills offered in the hostel environment. This additional process supports homeless people to develop more appropriate lifestyle choices and builds on their selfconfidence and abilities to take better control of their lives.