Nando's teams up with local charity to tackle waste and plastics in River Kelvin

Nando's is teaming up with a local environmental charity in the West End to help clean up the area.

The chain, which has just opened in the renovated Botanic Gardens Garage on Vinicombe Street, says it will partner Friends of the River Kelvin (FORK) on a number of projects.

FORK is based at Ha'Penny Bridge House on the Kelvin Walkway

The group organises clean-ups of the river by volunteers and works to improve habitats for wildlife.

Sally Johnston at FORK said the group was delighted at the offer of help.

"It's great when businesses reach out to work with and support Friends of the River Kelvin.

"An initial phone call from their West End manager has led to us exploring how we'll work with their staff on volunteer days.

The new team at Nando's West End who will be working with FORK

She said: "We will also look to see how we can work together to refurbish our base at Ha'Penny Bridge House.

"They are aware of sustainable building practices and have access to well sourced materials."

A Nando's spokesman said: "We wanted to find a charity that had similar values to our own and which we could help in through a variety of different methods.

'Perfect fit'

"Friends of the River Kelvin is a local non profit environmental awareness charity that works on the River Kelvin that we are really proud to be partnering up with.

"We will be running different awareness, fund raising & renovation projects throughout the year to help Friends of the River Kelvin achieve their future goals.

"We already recycling all of our glass, plastics, cardboard, food & oil so we felt an environment charity was a perfect fit for us."

The restaurant has opened at the newly-renovated former Botanic Gardens Garage car showroom off Byres Road

As well as FORK, the restaurant is donating its left over food to another Glasgow charity, Room for Everyone.

Unsold food is frozen and collected by the charity who make it into new products such as curries for families who are struggling to make ends meet.

Lauren at Room for Everyone said: "Nando's are now supporting us and we will hopefully continue to collect chicken every Tuesday.

'Thank'

"We really can't thank the team enough."

Nando's has recruited 30 new members of staff to run the new restaurant.

Car dealership Arnold Clark has spent the last two years transforming its listed former car showroom into a food and leisure space.