Mark spent twenty years cycling through prison cells. Now he sorts construction waste for a living.
I traced his journey from prison cleaning to full-time employment at Recycling Lives Services (RLS). He broke a two-decade pattern of addiction and incarceration.
The program worked because it embedded rehabilitation within commercial operations.
Two Problems, One Solution
The UK construction industry needs 239,300 extra workers over the next five years. That’s 47,860 annually. The national reoffending rate sits at 26.5 percent.
RLS connected both through six prison workshops where participants process construction waste while earning wages and gaining accredited training.
The results: a 5% reoffending rate within 12 months versus the national average of 26.5 percent. Two-thirds of participants secure employment after release.
Built Into Operations
Most social programs operate at the margins. RLS built theirs into core business.
The company processes construction waste, which represents 62 percent of UK waste annually. Prison workshops handle material sorting, component recovery, and product refurbishment. Participants earn wages.
This creates multiple benefits. Construction contractors meet social value requirements that now carry a 10% minimum weighting in government tenders under the Procurement Act 2023.
The industry addresses workforce gaps. Prison leavers gain employment. The model generates revenue.
Why This Matters Now
The Procurement Act 2023 strengthened social value requirements from “consider” to “have regard to the importance of maximizing public benefit.”
Contractors bidding on public projects must demonstrate social outcomes. Programs like RLS’s provide proof: reoffending rates, employment statistics, training certifications.
With 35 percent of workers over 50 and only 20 percent under 30, the industry needs every talent pool available.
The Replication Question
Mark’s story proves individual transformation. The data proves system effectiveness.
Can other construction supply chains embed similar models? RLS operates through partnership with Recycling Lives Charity across six facilities. The infrastructure exists.
What’s required: shifting from social impact as compliance burden to workforce solution.
The math supports it. A 5 percent reoffending rate versus 26.5 percent means fewer people return to prison. Employment after release means available workers for an industry short on labor.
RLS demonstrates that integration works. Commercial operations absorb social outcomes when designed from the start.
The construction industry needs bodies. Prisons need pathways out.
Mark found his. The model shows how to scale it.