Ben Griffith and Jill Ellenby at work

A COUPLE with great dedication to their community have been awarded the over-60s Islington Volunteers of the Year by Voluntary Action Islington.

Ben Griffith and Jill Ellenby, from Highbury, were recognised for their efforts to help the community through their volunteering at a variety of organisations such as the Elizabeth House food hub, the Ecology Centre at Gillespie Park, the Octopus Community Plant Nursery and many others.

The couple’s work at the Elizabeth House food hub has seen them plant vegetables, help with deliveries, take part in composting, and run recycling workshops.

On their volunteering Jill said: “We collect soft plastic from the food hub, not covered by normal council collection; there is lots that just gets burned otherwise.

For example, the wrapping film that you’d find on top of a punnet of strawberries, as well as plastic bags, these can’t go in normal recycling, so each week we collect these soft plastics and take them to supermarkets – most of them will take it and get it processed.”

Jill added: “It’s surprising how uninformed people are. Be aware that anything you don’t recycle in this borough is probably burned at the incinerator in Edmonton, which produces four times as many carbon emissions than if recycled. It’s important to try and make a difference and prevent climate change.”

The dedicated pair were bestowed with the honour at the Islington Volunteer of the Year Awards at the Union Chapel