Crisp bags helping the homeless

A TEENAGER has spent lockdown collecting empty crisp packets to make sleeping bags for the homeless.

Crafty Army cadet Rhyder Cameron- Wickes ensures the foil packs are cleaned and flattened, before melting the edges together with an iron.

These are then covered with a large plastic sheeting, also ironed on, and joined together to form bivvy bags – insulating layers that fit around a regular sleeping bag.

Cameron, 16, from March, Cambs, said: “Each bivvy bag takes about six hours to make and I usually do it in about three or four sittings.”

He added: “Because crisp packets are made from foil, they keep a lot of heat in, which makes them really good to give out to help the homeless.

“It’s a way of giving back to the community while also passing my Duke of Edinburgh Award.” He has already handed his first bag out to a rough sleeper.