Prestatyn girl makes homeless blankets from crisp packets

A 12-year-old girl has made hundreds of survival blankets for homeless people out of crisp packets.

Alyssa, from Prestatyn, Denbighshire, flattens them out, cleans them and uses an iron to fuse them together into a single sheet.

During the past year, she has made more than 200 blankets using almost 10,000 waste crisp packets.

The blankets have been given to organisations which support homeless people in Llandudno, Wrexham and Rhyl.

Each one takes an hour to make, but Alyssa said the effort was worth it because it helps homeless people and stops the crisp packets from being thrown in the bin.

"The bit I don't like is washing them," she said.

"Each packet has to be opened out so it's flat and then washed in the sink.

"Then you take four of them, put them under a piece of baking paper, and iron them so that the heat fuses them together.

"Finally, you sandwich the crisp packets between two thin sheets of clear plastic, and you use the iron again to seal that in place."

She explained the finished blankets look very similar on one side to the silver blankets given to marathon runners after they cross the finish line.

The idea originally came from a woman in East Sussex called Pen Huston, who has now set up a company called the Crisp Packet Project to make blankets and survival bags and to support others around the UK who are doing the same.

Alyssa started making the blankets in August 2021 and asked her mum to get colleagues at work to start collecting old crisp packets for her.

"I saw on Facebook that people were starting to turn crisp packets into blankets, and thought I'd like to have a go at making them myself," she said.

"When you put the blanket around your body, the heat reflects back off the silver part of the crisp packet.

"You wouldn't think you could turn a crisp packet into something so helpful, but homeless people like the blankets because they're really lightweight and waterproof.

"Crisp packets are really hard to recycle, so this is a new way to stop them going in the bin."

Alyssa and her mum put the blankets into a bag along with other essential items like gloves, socks and toothpaste.

The packs are given to homeless shelters in Wrexham and Rhyl or support organisations such as The Salvation Army and Hope Restored in Llandudno. Some have also been sent to Ukraine.

Alyssa's mum, Darlene, said: "she makes the blankets after school - it certainly keeps her away from her phone.

"She's passionate about the environment, and the homeless support organisations in north Wales have been very positive about the blankets."