STAFF and volunteers at Re-Employ in Crosshill helped the company gain a Scottish first recently.

A total of six employees and two volunteers successfully sat an Independent Learning Account (ILA) course in Waste Management and were the first organisation in Scotland to do so.

Founder Irene Donaldson was delighted with their success.

"They were the first employees to take forward this certificate and they worked very hard for it," she said. "It was an awful lot of effort.

"Iain Conn, the trainer from Life Skills, was absolutely superb and they were all given the time to discuss and take on board all the waste management information systems for recycling.

"It really was a great award for them to achieve."

The newly learned knowledge will now be used at Re-Employ's base and their success has also been acknowledged by Lothian-based waste training company Waste Switch.

"They are going to use Re-Employ as a flagship to encourage other people to take this forward," added Irene. "As well as helping within the company and helping the environment, it helps them in their home life as well. They now have the knowledge and skills to manage the waste at home. It has been a great achievement for everyone."